Bacon-fest 2009

I actually have a couple of food related things to talk about, but as I have just returned home from a bacon-tastic knit night, we'll start with my bacon-themed foods. 

Bacon-fest came about somehow last Wednesday at knit night and once plans were finalized, I said "I'll bring Pig Candy!" Which was the plan until the weekend when I was trying to fall asleep & could not get my brain to stop working. At some point, one of my thoughts was peanut butter & banana bread pudding topped with pig candy. I figured it was either one of the worst ideas ever or one of the best, but I couldn't decide which. 

Believe it or not, it actually worked. So I give you Elvis Bread Pudding. I started with a basic bread pudding recipe and (obviously) modified it heavily to get the final result. 

This is the single serve portion I baked with the 9x13 pan. There was no way I was serving this without trying it first.

Ingredients:

1lb sweet white bread (I used a local store brand's "sweet mini loaves")

2 cups milk (nonfat is fine)

3 cups fat free half-and-half

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

3 eggs beaten

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, melted*

2 bananas, sliced

3 pieces pig candy (see recipe below) or 3 pieces crispy bacon crumbled & extra brown sugar for dusting

*Do not make my mistake and heat this in the jar unless you're sure that all the foil from the top has been removed. I swear, sometimes we can make the simplest mistakes while cooking. Also, this step just makes it easier to mix the peanut butter into everything else. 

Preheat the oven to 350 (if you make the pig candy first, your oven will already be at 350). 

Tear or cut bread into chunks. Place into large bowl & pour half & half and milk over the bread. Let soak for at least 10 minutes (I probably went 20). Add the sliced bananas to the bread mixture & stir. Beat eggs in small bowl & then stir in your peanut butter (you want to make sure the peanut butter isn't going to clump up when you add it to the bread mixture). Add the egg/peanut butter stuff & your sugars to the bread mixture and mix well. 

Pour the mix into a 9x13 pan (I would probably recommend a little nonstick cooking spray first). Sprinkle crumbled pig candy or bacon & sugar on top. 

Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes until pudding is firm (it will still be quite moist, though). 

Pig Candy*

1 lb bacon (use the cheap stuff. The really cheap stuff. I did not and mine didn't get crispy enough)

dark brown sugar

Coat bacon in brown sugar. Place on racks over a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 until crispy (about 20 minutes). Remove from oven, let cool BRIEFLY & then remove to waxed paper. Otherwise it will stick to the racks. 

*I don't know if it's worth the trouble, really. My entire apartment still smells like brown sugar coated bacon. And have you ever tried to coat bacon in brown sugar? It's not as easy as it sounds - the sugar doesn't want to stick. 

If you want to include bacon in the Elvis Bread Pudding, just crumble up some nice crispy pieces & then sprinkle them over the top. Dust the top with brown sugar and voila. Same difference. 

As for the rest of the bacon-themed dishes for the potluck? There were many and they were delicious. 

I'm going to go have a little bacon induced heart attack now.