july: lisa’s maple and caramelised bacon cake pops

Most of this month, I was lucky enough to be away from the Winter in Sydney, and travelling the world. Somehow, I always end up in kitchenware shops while I’m overseas, and invariably, I end up buying loads of funky (but bulky) items to bring back to my kitchen at home (and not considering the space and weight it takes up in my suitcase!).

One of my purchases whilst I was in New York was a cake pops tray. I thought why not give it a go for my July creation.

I was really happy with how the resulting cakes turned out – they didn’t stick to the tray! Win!

The cake pops also made an interesting change for my workmates, who I tend to trial new recipes on. The saltiness of the bacon, with the toffee coating and the creamy maple buttercream make this a match made in heaven.

Just a tip – the crispier you fry the bacon, before coating in the caramel, the better the result when you grind it up in the food processor.

 

If you don’t own a cake pop tray, don’t worry. The recipe works just as well in cupcake form. Enjoy!

july: anna’s bacon caramel popcorn sundaes

I’m not sure whether bacon desserts are a New York thing. I’ve never really paid attention when visiting other cities, but I don’t think my fellow bloggers were necessarily thrilled when I announced the July theme! If there’s a bacon dessert on a restaurant menu, I will order it, without fail. I love the sweet and salty combination. The best bacon dessert I’ve ever had was the bacon doughnut dish at Traif in Brooklyn. The restaurant name means “non-kosher”, and they serve bacon margaritas and pork or shellfish in practically every dish. I’ve also eaten bacon cupcakes, macarons, tarts, puddings, chocolate bars and peanut brittle.

I wanted to make bacon caramel popcorn for my July dish. I decided to use it as a topping for an ice cream sundae, and what better ice cream flavor to go with popcorn than corn?! Earlier in the week, I signed up for a “share” on CitySprout, a farm share program where local farmers deliver boxes of seasonal fruit and vegetables, fresh from the farm, to neighborhoods. You don’t choose what’s in the box, you just get a selection of the freshest produce. I was very excited to pick it up after work! The box included wild blueberries, summer squash, red kale, string beans, mixed herbs and corn. Perfect!

I had some buttermilk in the fridge, so I made a buttermilk corn ice cream. It turned out really creamy and had a great corn flavor, with a little bit of tang from the buttermilk. The popcorn also turned out the way I had imagined! If I was serving it plain, I would probably use a little less bacon, but combined with a dark chocolate sauce and the sweet, creamy ice-cream, it was the perfect combination! It made a nice summer Sunday afternoon treat for my neighbors :)

july: kerri’s chocolate & bacon ‘cupcakes’

I can’t lie – when I saw that the theme for this month was bacon, I was a bit worried! In Australia, bacon is usually served savoury. And although some cafes do serve bacon with pancakes, french toast or sweet waffles, I’ve never really been a fan. So it took a compulsory challenge for me to experiment and discover that bacon in desserts can be really yummy!

The juices started flowing as I researched what combinations I could put together. I was happy to find out that bacon and chocolate are perfect partners! And I found the base and starting point to this month’s creation with an adapted bacon brittle from Tasting Table. Adapted because the original recipe goes into a salad, so I left out the peppers. I also ground the brittle into sprinkles to make it more versatile to use.

I’ve been wanting to make a dessert in chocolate cups for years now but my laziness always got the better of me. For this challenge, I loved the idea of using them for the presentation (and eating, of course) so I pushed little miss lazy aside and voila! Sprinkled with bacon brittle, these made the perfect start to my creation.

Now, to fill it? I decided to use a salted caramel chocolate mousse recipe, substituting some of the sugar with the bacon brittle. I also added some brittle to the finished mousse to add some texture. (I should have substituted the whole amount of sugar with the brittle as the bacon was a bit too subtle in the finished mousse. I have adjusted this in the recipe.)

With a topping of cream to cut through the richness of the mousse, I decorated the dessert to look like cupcakes and finished off with another sprinkling of brittle.

My guests were a bit hesitant when they first read the menu, but seemed more than pleasantly surprised :) My ‘cupcakes’ were a hit – apparently I should have made more than one per person!

Recipe can be found here.

july: jasmine’s bread and butter pudding

When I think of bacon, I am reminded of big Canadian style breakfasts. A stack of pancakes with maple syrup, pork sausages, crisp bacon, eggs and fried potatoes. The bacon and maple syrup combo is one my favorites!

Actually, it’s funny that I am reminded of big Canadian breakfasts at this time of year. July is the month when the annual Calgary Stampede is held (Calgary is where I grew up). The Stampede is a large country-western themed event which includes rodeos, live bands, parades and typical show ground goodies such as rides for kids, games, typical fair foods such as corn-dogs and mini cinnamon donuts. The closest thing to the Stampede, in Sydney, would be the Easter Show….but in Calgary, the whole city is alive during the Stampede. One of my fondest memories of the Stampede is the Stampede breakfast! Large bbq breakfasts are hosted by various large corporates in the city each day during the Stampede. A typical work day during the Stampede would be to go into the office (in jeans and other country western gear – of course) and then with your colleagues go check out one of the Stampede breakfasts. After 2 hours of queuing and indulging in pancakes, bacon, sausages, eggs, etc…..we would start our work day at about….11am :)

My contribution this month is a bread and butter pudding with crisp bacon and maple caramel sauce. This is not only a tribute to bacon, but it also pays homage to the Calgary Stampede and my home town Calgary. (makes me miss Canada…actually).

I made this as a dessert one evening and with the leftovers, I cut the bread and butter pudding into rectangle pieces and fried it in a little butter in a pan over medium heat. I served the left overs with the maple caramel sauce, some fresh bacon and a handful of blueberries…divine…..v. similar to french toast actually :)

july: bacon!

Yup. You got it. Bacon.

*theme chosen by Anna
*photo from Facebook: viral