In Food News

SYDNEY - Some Australians are up in arms over a new kangaroo and emu flavored chip, horrified that people are encouraged to eat the nation's coat of arms which depicts the iconic Australian animals.

I... don't think that's the only problem with those chips.

Bacon Maple Shortbread Cookies

As part of Dr. Doreus's annual Christmas cookie baking party, we naturally had to contribute a little bacon this weekend. The suggestion came by way of the Goddess in BC -- thanks!

I still had some leftover maple fudge from the bacon apple pie, so brought it along with me. And bacon, of course; the evening's resident chemist was forced to enquire, "Do you just carry bacon in your purse now? In case of emergency?".

Who doesn't?

Anyway, we whipped up a batch of shortbread and set the dough in the fridge to chill. Meanwhile, we fried half a pack of bacon and chopped it into bacon bits.

The original recipe was just what was on the back of a box of Benson's Corn Starch (we are gourmets).

BACON MAPLE SHORTBREAD COOKIES

1/2 package bacon, fried and chopped
3-4 small pieces maple fudge, chopped/crumbled into small pieces
1/2 C corn starch
1/2 C icing sugar
1 C all-purpose flour
3/4 C softened butter

Chill dough for 1/2 hour to an hour. Preheat oven to 300. Roll dough into 1-inch balls, adding bacon bits and fudge. Press lightly into ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes.



Some of the cookies did become deformed because the fudge bits were melting and running all over the place; we would suggest adding the bacon bits to the dough, rolling the cookie balls, and then pressing your thumb into the top of the cookie to make a depression in which you can then add the fudge bits. It might be less messy. These were quite tasty, though! There isn't much not to love about a bacon-maple-butter combo.

Verdict: delicious

Somewhat Scary...

(From Jo Naylor's Flickr)

Yeah... I'm not sure about that one. But it was sent to me by a friend and sympathiser of this site. I have not seen those around here... yet! I can just imagine taking a few of those to "freshen my breath" just before going to class...

Bacon Caramel Popcorn

This was a Hallowe'en experiment; we were watching a bad horror movie and needed some snacks. The original caramel corn recipe was from Julie Van Rosendaal's Grazing cookbook (which I love); however, we were lacking in some ingredients, so we ended up with a couple of emergency substitutions and 'oh that can't be important' omissions. And we were hungry, so we skipped a whole step at the end. Please do not blame Ms. Van Rosendaal for our errors.

BACON CARAMEL POPCORN

1 package microwave popcorn, popped (ours was 'light butter')
1 C raw sugar (the recipe called for brown; we didn't have any)
1/2 C honey (we only had blueberry honey, which added a bit of an odd aftertaste)
2 T butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C fried bacon, chopped into bits

The recipe also called for baking soda, which we didn't have either. Oops.

Anyway: combine the sugar, honey and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil until sugar is melted, then remove from stove and add vanilla. Pour over popcorn. Add bacon bits. Toss.

It wasn't bad, but it could have been better. Like, say, if we'd bothered to have the proper ingredients, or follow all of the instructions.

We resolved to try this one again at a later date... but the really freaky thing is that apparently Julie was also making bacon caramel popcorn on Hallowe'en. We had no idea she'd done this. Her recipe is posted here, and I have confidence that it is much tastier than ours.

Verdict: Not bad; needs work.