Yes… you read that right.
Sweet ‘n Heat ♥ BACON ♥ wrapped Pretzels with Peanut Butter and Chocolate… oh and yes… BACON CRUNCHIES!!! I know, I’m pure evil! MUAHAHAHAHA
Yes, I went THERE! We’re talking last day of the year, belly bustin’, stretchy pants wearin’, I shouldn’t eat this but I’m gonna do it anyway, gonna have to ask for forgiveness in church for these hellish sinful treats but it’s so worth it… pretzels!
See about 2 weeks ago one of the TKW Family members, Terri, gave me a pseudo challenge. To come up with some sinfully wicked dish that involved bacon. And every day she’d make a comment about ‘Got Bacon?’ or something to that effect. Well she got it so in my head that I started to crave bacon. AND of course the snow came, and down it came! They said “Oh only 2″ you should get” and we got about 14″ in a span of 4 days. That being said my butt was in lock down at the house sans bacon! I tore apart both freezers in hopes to findemergencybacon – no such luck. Actually it’s pretty funny as to how many of you actually keep a stash ofEmergencyBacon on hand. Love it! Well the first day the roads cleared up my butt skedaddled to the store and bought up 4 pounds of it. I would have bought more but I was afraid I’d raise suspicion! LOL Plus Mr. Fantabulous hates bacon because it’s so unhealthy. Yeah I know… clogs arteries, bad for you health wise. Um… so! Gimme my damn bacon and no one gets hurt! Kapeesh there bucco?! *wink*
When I brought home the bacon (… and fry it up in the pan! And Never, Never, Never let you forget You’re a Man! ‘Cause I’m a Woman! Enjoli!) sorry, channeled a very popular commercial from when I was a kid. LOL Anyway, as I said I brought it home and knew I HAD to make something with it. Since I didn’t have any more on hand I went straight to making my Beer & Bacon Spread. If you’ve never tried Bacon Jam, try it. It’s wonderful! Mine is about 9,000 levels above that as I incorporate beer and other spices in it. Seriously, I eat this off of the spoon it’s THAT good! Once I find out what all I need to do to start selling that jarred stuff commercially I am. It’s pure heavenly sin on the spoon!
So as I was eating my BB Spread on fresh beer sourdough bread I got to thinking what I could make that would knock Terri’s and the TKW Family’s socks off. I wanted something different and full indulgent. I wanted that “I should pray for forgiveness after eating one.. or 12 of these” effect. With it being the end of the year I wanted something that people wouldn’t feel guilty about eating now since they would start their New Year’s Diet soon thereafter. That’s when it hit me.. Pretzels. I may try doing these with fresh sourdough soft pretzels but that’s in the future. I mixed up the ingredients, got this babies in the oven and literally sat there staring so intently at the oven. You could see the brown sugar bubbling, the bacon sizzling and OMG that aroma!!! It’s as if the heaven’s opened up and all that sweet smell came rushing down from the skies and funneled through my oven! Hmmm…I wonder if Heaven smells like bacon. Dude, that would ROCK!
When they were done I took them out of the oven and literally it was all I could do to not stuff them in my face but seeing the sugars still bubbling and the bacon sizzling, I knew I had to wait (damn it!). Remember.. bandaids don’t stick to your lips or tongue! As they were cooling, I thought about leaving them as-is as they look amazing! I mean look…
But by now you all know me. I can’t stop at amazing. I NEED to push it; to push myself. I want FANTABULOUS! So I opted for a little add-ons if you will…
First we went to Chocolate drizzle…
NOW we’re talkin’ here! When the smell of chocolate hit the hot sizzlin’ bacon I swear the flavor train just went “CHOO CHOO BABY!”. However…yes, there’s always a however in my house, I wasn’t done. ItNEEDED more. It needed that pièce de résistance.
and that’s when I went HERE…
Told you I was evil *as she sits back and shines her 1/2 halo 1/2 horns*…
So with it being the end of the year, go all out and splurge! This is soooooooooooooo worth it!
And Ms. Terri – you’re welcome *wink*
PrintSweet ‘n Heat Bacon Wrapped Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzels
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Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/4 cup melted chocolate
- 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter, warmed
- 12 slices regular cut bacon
- 18 – 20 thick pretzels (I used Homestyle)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Line a pan with foil and place a metal backing rack on top.
- Lightly spray the rack with cooking spray.
- Mix together the brown sugar, cayenne and chili powder.
- Cut the bacon in half and then dredge the piece in the seasoning.
- Wrap each piece around the pretzel pulling tight but not tight enough to break the pretzel.
- Lay the pretzel down, where the end is tucked underneath to help prevent curling.
- Once all the pretzels are wrapped take the remaining strips of bacon, dredge in the seasoning and place them on the baking rack too. These pieces will be used as the bacon crunchies. If you don’t want them, just wrap more pretzels.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the bacon is cooked. Do not overcook as you’ll burn the pretzels.
- While the pretzels are baking, take a piece of parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
- Remove the pretzels from the oven and carefully (they will be hot) transfer them to the parchment paper to cool. They will be sticky but will harden upon cooling.
- While the pretzels are cooling, put the cooling rack in hot soapy water to help with cleaning up the rack.
- Take the extra pieces and break them up into small bacon crunchies pieces.
- Drizzle the pretzels with melted chocolate and allow to cool until the chocolate is set.
- Drizzle then with the melted peanut butter.
- Allow that to cool slightly, ~2-3 minutes.
- Top with Bacon Crunchies.
- Store in an air tight container and if not eating right away, store in the fridge.
Notes
To help simplify clean up, as these are cooling, fill your sink up with hot soapy water. Remove the bacon from the racks and immediately put your cooling racks in the water. Let soak for 5-10 minutes and clean up is a breeze! *Note – make sure your cooling racks can be submerged in water first!
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