After a few weeks of posting recipes for healthier treats (like almond butter trail mix cookies, triple berry almond oat bars, and coconut cashew butter) I decided to go the opposite direction.
I made brownies.
And I put bacon in them. And then I added a lot of nuts and a little bit of bourbon.
I’m not upset with the situation. These bacon nut bourbon brownies are totally worth it.
The base of the brownie itself is amazing. They bake up nice and thick with just the right texture ranging somewhere between gooey and cakey. With three types of chocolate – bittersweet, unsweetened, and cocoa powder – they aren’t too chocolatey or too tooth-achingly sweet. They are juuuuuust right. Plus, these have that little crust on top that is just perfect. This will be my new go-to brownie base going forward.
Then there are the nuts. Nuts always belong in brownies, so I feel like I don’t need to explain this further.
But the bourbon and bacon? That one I’ll explain.
Explanation: bourbon and bacon belong in everything.
I kid.
(But really I’m not kidding)
To be honest, I added the bacon because I had a half-full (optimist!) package of bacon in my fridge leftover from another recipe. I didn’t know what to use it for, because I already had my lunches and dinners planned for the rest of the week. I needed to use it for something and I happened to be making brownies to bring to dinner at a friend’s house, so I just decided to throw bacon into the batter.
And since I was already trashing these brownies up by adding bacon, I figured what the heck, might as well add bourbon.
Does that make sense?
I’ll tell you this: no one complained about it. I don’t think you would either.
And remember when I put bacon in scotcheroos? Yeah, those were good too.
- 6-8 slices bacon
- ½ cup butter
- 4 oz bittersweet chocolate
- 2 oz unsweetened chocolate
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 teaspoons bourbon
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon course sea salt, plus extra for topping
- ¾ cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts, peanuts, and pecans)
- Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Take two pieces of parchment paper and place them perpendicularly in an 8x8” baking pan. Leave some overhang so that the brownies can easily be lifted out of the pan. Grease with butter or oil.
- Fry the bacon in a pan until crisp, a few minutes on each side. Chop into small pieces then set aside to cool.
- Melt the butter, bittersweet chocolate, and unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler (a saucepan over a larger saucepan of boiling water) or in the microwave.
- Stir in the cocoa powder.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and bourbon until thoroughly combined. The sugar should be completely dissolved, about 3 minutes.
- Whisk in the chocolate mixture.
- Stir in the flour and sea salt.
- Fold in ¾ of the bacon and chopped nuts.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and top with remaining bacon, nuts, and a little bit of sea salt.
- Bake for about 25-30 minutes. Do not overbake! Brownies can be slightly underdone and gooey.
- Let them cool completely before removing from the pan. Cut into 9 large (or 16 small) brownies. Enjoy!
Now I’m off to go do my last long run before Grandma’s Marathon, which is next Saturday! *insert panic attack * But afterwards I’m headed to go explore Stillwater with some friends. I’ll post Instagrams and take notes and tell you about it later. Enjoy your Saturday! I hope you go for a nice, long walk (or run) and then eat some brownies.
