Bacon Toffee

Yup, bacon candy!

As we stumbled across blog posts for Bacon Toffee, we looked at each other and said "bacon candy?!?!" and laughed... but as we read the various rants and reviews and posts around the web - we decided we had to make some to bring to our Super Bowl party! Get it - pigskin? At least the Toffee was a bigger hit at the Super Bowl than the Patriots were... grumble, grumble.

The bacon toffee is similar to the Peppermint Bark we make around the holidays, but this candy is made FROM SCRATCH (oh, and this candy has bacon in it).

We started by crisping up 5 strips of good Boar's Head bacon (and saving the drippings for a Cast Iron Bacon Cornbread...) and set the cooked bacon aside. Then, we started 1/4 cup water in a small-ish, heavy-bottom saucepan over medium-high heat. To that, we added 1 stick of butter and let that start to melt, breaking it up a little bit. Then, we added a big pinch of kosher salt and 1 cup of sugar. Then we stirred.



And we stirred. And we stirred. Keep the heat pretty high and keep stirring as the sugar melts and it all becomes a liquid, then starts bubble and turn sort of candy-like (kind of a sticky gel) and begins to turn tan. About 10-12 minutes of stirring later, you'll have a nice tan-brown "toffee" color and a sticky consistancy and you'll be ready to make your candy.

Quickly stir in the broken-up bacon pieces (I said to break them up, right?) and pour all of your stuff out onto a very-lightly greased cookie sheet. And that's it. No refrigeration needed, just wait as long as you can for it to harden up (maybe 2 hours) and then break it up and eat it!

(While you're waiting, fill that saucepan with water and start it on high to boil along with any utensils you used to clean off that hard candy residue).

Surprisingly - or not - excellent! Sweet candied toffee with just a hint of smokiness and a little meat mixed in! Not overly "bacon-tasting" at all, and certainly addictive.