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Canadian Drunken Pumpkin Bacon Balls

I was looking for a reason to make something that resembles the maple bacon cupcakes and doughnuts that everyone seems to be making.  But I wanted to step it up a bit, both for flavor (the drunken) and for fall (the pumpkin).  After researching how these things are typically made by about 20 others, I came up with this.

The boys liked them as much as they like the quiche so it’s got to be a hit.

This makes about 30 – 1 1/2 inch balls

Ingredients

Balls

  • 1/2 cup evaporated milk
  • 1 package of bacon, fried and chopped
  • 1/4 cup bacon grease from cooking the bacon, in solid form
  • 4 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast (2 packets)
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1/2 cup your favorite spiced rum (Kraken or Captain Morgan‘s)
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 4 tablespoons of maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice
  • 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 2 2/3 of all-purpose flour, plus a little extra if needed
  • vegetable oil for frying (I used 2 quarts)

Glaze

  • 2 cup powdered sugar
  • 4 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoon bacon fat, melted
  • 2 tablespoons evaporated milk
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup of the rum used in the balls

Preparation

I did most of this the evening before just because everyone likes their balls freshly cooked and warm, right.

First you need to cook up the package of bacon. I find it best to bake this on a foil lined cooke sheet in a 375 to 385 degree oven for 7 to 10 minutes per side, draining the grease at the flip. Then take the finished bacon and drain on some paper towels. Put the bacon grease into a bowl and refridgerate long enough to make it the consistency of warm butter. Now to make some bacon butter. Add the evaporated milk to a saucepan over medium-low heat and heat until just warm enough to melt the bacon grease. Pour the warm milk over top of the bacon grease slowly and stir constantly until it’s fully mixed. Set side to let cool to room temperature.

While that’s cooling, take a few minutes to loosely chop half of the bacon. Finely chop the rest and keep the two separate.

The next thing you can premake is the glaze. In another bowl add all the glaze ingredients along with the finely chopped bacon and whisk until this becomes a glaze. Then refrigerate till ready to use.

Now to make the dough. In the large bowl whisk together the yeast and warm water to activate it. Let this mixture sit for about five minutes until foamy. Then add in cooled bacon butter. Mix well using an electric mixer on low speed. Add in the eggs, syrup, salt, nutmeg, pumpkin spice, rum, coarse chopped bacon and half of the flour mixture, mixing on low speed until combined. Add the remaining flour, mixing on medium speed until combined which will take about five minutes. Then knead the dough for about five minutes or until it fully pulls from the bowl. If it is sticky add a few tablespoons of flour and knead until it pulls off smoothly. Have another vegetable oil coated bowl ready and transfer the dough when it pulls easily, cover and let rise in a warm place for about and hour.

Prepare a couple cookie sheets with parchment paper and a little coating of oil or baking spray. Then pinch off pieces of the dough that you can roll into balls about an inch to inch and a half in diameter. Place these on the cookie sheets keeping at least a half an inch to one inch separation. Then cover loosely with a sheet of plastic wrap and let this rise at room temperature for another thirty minutes. Then move to the refrigerator for the night.

Assembly

First thing you need to do is get the dough nuts out of the refrigerator and allow them to warm to room temperature. If your pressed for time, warm up the oven a little and put the balls in there with the door cracked so it’s about 100 degrees in the oven for about five minutes. Warm up your glaze either in a microwave or pot just enough to liquify it again.

While the balls are warming, heat your oil a large pot on medium high heat, making sure it is about 365 degrees. You should also only need about two to three inches of oil. And if you want them a little crisper and healthier, use coconut oil. Add the dough nuts into the oil five or six at a time, frying on each side for about 1 minute, and flipping with a spider or slotted spoon. Remove and let drain on wire rack placed above a paper towel. When finished, dip each ball halfway in glaze. They are ready to serve or pack in a foil covered tray for transport. If your taking these to the rink, make sure to leave a little vent in the foil cover to let the steam out, but keep most of the heat in.

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Million Dollar Bacon

This form of bacon has been called may things, but we call it Million Dollar Bacon, because it taste like a million.

I’ve seen this done a number of ways and this will be the first in a series of slightly different versions of this style of bacon.  This is the original that started these tasty bacon hacks.  You won’t be disappointed with the sweet and spicy combination of flavors of this bacon and it’s good by itself or in just about anything else, including quiche.

Makes 24 or so slices, depending on thickness of cut

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs of quality sliced Smoked Bacon
  • 1 cup of Brown Sugar
  • 1 tspn of Ground Pepper
  • 1 tspn of Cayenne Pepper
  • 2 tspn of Red Chile Flakes

Preparation

Preparing Million Dollar Bacon
Preparing Million Dollar Bacon

Preheat oven to 300 deg.  Prepare a baking pan by lining it with foil leaving a spout in one corner to pour off the accumulated grease.  Drop in a baking rack on top of the foil.  Lay out all the strips of bacon with a small overlap between slices.  Spread on the brown sugar over the bacon till it’s got a nice coating of brown sugar.  As you work this out it’s very likely that the brown sugar will liquify by absorbing some of the moisture from the bacon.  Sprinkle the ground pepper, cayenne pepper and red chile flakes evenly over the sugared bacon.

When ready, put the bacon in the oven and bake for about 15 – 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and drain the accumulated grease from the bottom of the pan.  At this point you can either simply return the bacon to the oven, or flip the slices over and return.  If you flip them, you should dust the top with a little extra brown sugar.  When you return them to the oven continue cooking for another 15 – 20 minutes or until the bacon is starting to crisp around the edges.  Remove and allow to cool a little bit so that it becomes fully crisp.

It’s now ready to either chop up into bit sized pieces for simply devour.

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Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Dates

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These were found while on a trip to DC.  This is the basic recipe for these sweet and flavorful bite sized snacks.  Bacon Wrapped Dates are actually a favorite snack dish from Spain.  But these are ramped up a bit by stuffing them.  Also this recipe isn’t quite the traditional recipe because in Spain these would be breaded and deep fried.  We are trying to keep this a little healthy right!

This makes 32

Ingredients

  • 16 slices of thin sliced bacon
  • 32 pitted dates
  • 32 thin slices of apricot (about 6 dried apricots)
  • 1/2 cup shelled pistachios (at least 64)

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Cut the bacon slices in half.  Slice up the apricots.  Stuff each date with the slice of apricot and at least 2 pistachios.  Then wrap this in the half slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick.  Line a baking pan with foil or parchment to catch the grease that will come off these while cooking and then place a baking rack on top of the pan.  Place each of the stuffed bacon wrapped dates on the rack with the toothpick horizontal.  This all goes into the oven for 10 minutes.  Then flip each date by the toothpick and cook for another 8 minutes.  Remove and these are best served at least warm.

If you want to make these even better serve them with a dipping sauce.  Make a quick and easy Chutney Mustard Sauce by mixing 6 tablespoons of a Dijon Mustard or Beer Mustard with 6 tablespoons for Chutney in a pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes.