Bacon Cupcakes, Bacon Cake? Why Not?

Caramel Apple Bacon Cookies

By Kimberly Wadsworth

Ingredients for Cookies:

When it comes to literally bringing home the bacon, Americans are near-professionals. Last year Americans ate more than $2 billion worth of bacon.

(Ida Mae Astute/ABC)

¼ pound bacon, chopped into ½ inch pieces
About ¼ to ½ cup brown sugar, or to taste
1½ cups sugar
1½ tablespoons molasses
½ cup vegetable shortening
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2¼ cups flour
½ cup apple juice
½ to 1 cup pecans, or to taste

Directions for Cookies:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the chopped bacon with enough brown sugar to coat, then spread it in a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice during baking. Remove from oven and spread on paper towels to cool and drain. When cooled, whirl them briefly in a food processor along with the pecans to chop fine.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 again. Cream together the sugar, molasses, shortening , and egg, and then sift in the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and flour. Stir in the apple juice until the batter is well blended. Then fold in the chopped bacon bits and pecans.

3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Let cool, and then frost with caramel glaze (recipe below). Yields 7 to 8 dozen.

Ingredients for Caramel Glaze:

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¼ cup butter*
¼ cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons milk or cream
Pinch of salt
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions for Caramel Glaze:

1. Melt together butter and brown sugar over medium heat, stirring until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in milk or cream, salt, and powdered sugar. Thin with more milk if desired.

*For extra bacon flavor, add just a little reserved bacon drippings to taste.

Electric Bacon

By J.J. Proville of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Yield: 40 to 50 slices of bacon

Ingredients for Cure:

3 pounds salt
1 pound sugar
1 pound brown sugar
5 bay leaves, ground
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried thyme
½ tablespoon freshly ground allspice
1 tablespoon red chili flakes

Ingredients for Pork:

1 4- to 5-pound pork belly
Cure, as needed
1 pounds applewood chunks
2 pounds cherrywood chunks
2 cups agave nectar
½ cup ground Szechuan Buttons

Directions for the Cure:

Combine salt, sugars, bay leaves, pepper, thyme, allspice and chili flakes.

Directions for the Pork:

Submerge the pork belly in the cure for 3.5-4 days. Remove from the cure. Rinse thoroughly twice. Let the bacon air-dry uncovered in the refirgerator for 24 hours. In a smoker of grill over indirect heat, smoke the bacon using a mix of cherry and applewood chips or chunks for 6 hours. Remove from smoker and reserve in a chilled place.

Directions to Serve:

Using a meat slicer, slice bacon. Preheat a hot grill using hardwood lump charcoal. Brush or drizzle agave nectar onto slices. Grill the bacon slices for 1 minute per side or until crispy. Sprinkle evenly with Szechuan buttons and serve.