We recently got a beautiful package in the mail from Leigh at Naughty Bits Brownies. And then we had to EAT BROWNIES. Geez. What more do you people want from us? And keep in mind that these were no ordinary brownies. These were Shiksa Bars, topped with maple-smoked bacon and bits of toffee. There was a lot of arm-twisting involved, but finally Naseem, Husband and I gathered round the table to fight over share these fudgy treats. All for your benefit, The Internet. You’re welcome.

The first thing we noticed about the individually wrapped brownies was their weight. These are some hefty squares; we were a little intimidated. The very next thing that drew us in was the amazing, chocolatey aroma. This is what you want your whole house to smell like all day, every day. Our taste buds started screaming for their turn. We decided, based on what we’d experienced so far, that we better split one. It turned out to be a smart decision.

I’ll start with our favorite thing, which was the incredibly rich, almost fudge-like density. Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to brownies, but all three of us loved this one. Moist, super-chocolatey…better than eating my favorite candy bar. What’s not to love? And now here’s where our tastes diverge. I’m not a huge fan of frosting or extraneous toppings on my cookies, cakes, brownies, etc. (Ice cream doesn’t count as a topping, Husband! Ice cream lives on the side.) So as I was saying, I probably would have preferred the basic Man Catcher (a la mode). Naseem and Husband, on the other hand, loved the toffee and thought it enhanced the brownie experience. Who are we kidding…I didn’t exactly scrape it off mine.

Now for the thing we’re all here for: the bacon. Unfortunately, this was our least favorite feature. It had the extra-chewy consistency of bacon jerky, which hasn’t scored high marks with us either. I thought it also lacked the saltiness I was looking for. I completely get it; crispy cooked bacon doesn’t exactly have a long shelf-life. Finding just the right bacon product for retail sweets is no easy task. That said, the toffee pretty well dominated the topping region, keeping the bacon from being too troublesome. And it certainly didn’t stop us from completely devouring that baby. By the following mid-morning, all three brownies were gone. I’m not saying who ate them? I’m just saying…

Naughty Bits Brownies come in six different, unique flavors, and you can order them in cutely packaged boxes of 6 ($21) or 12 ($41). You can get all one style or mix and match…heck, try them all! I’m imagining each would fit just perfectly in the toe of a stocking.

Don’t forget to check out the Bacon Store for more stocking-stuffer ideas. It’s December 1st people! Those presents aren’t going to buy themselves!

Be sure to check out our Gifts and Stocking Stuffers sections for more ideas!

1. Bacon Unisex Rock Socks

$10.00 – Buy it now!
Everyone wears socks, and everyone knows SOMEONE who LOVES bacon, so… Show your friends you know what they care about by giving them a pair of premium BACON socks! Rock Sock BACON socks have a bold red leg and foot, bright pink toe and heel, and BACON spelled in big, white block letters down each calf. It’s a strong color combo that evokes the tastiest meat treat on the planet.

Browse more wearable bacon

2. Marini’s Candies Chocolate Covered Bacon Gift Box

$12.95 – Buy it now!
Hickory smoked bacon is cooked in the oven until golden & crisp then it’s smothered in milk chocolate. Comes in a 8 oz. gift box

Check out more bacon candy

3. Bacon Candy

$7.70 – Buy it now!
These red and white striped hard candies look just like the ones that grandma used to put in her fancy candy dish for the holidays. But, my oh my, would grandma be in for a surprise if she popped one in her mouth! Instead of a standard candy flavor she’d discover a sweet and smoky bacon flavor. Truly one of our finest swine confections. Each 3-1/4″ x 2-1/2″ x 2″ (8.3 cm x 6.4 cm x 5.1 cm) tin contains about twelve individually wrapped candies

Check out more bacon candy

4. Invader Zim Bacon Soap T-Shirt

$19.50 – Buy it now!
Aw, look at how helpful Gir is, he made you some bacon soap. I’d wash with real soap afterwards though.

Lots more bacon tees

5. Vintage Bacon is Meat Candy

$27.00 – Buy it now!
A humorous faded vintage style Bacon is Meat Candy design for fans of bacon Funny Tee, TShirt, Shirt. About our Dark T-Shirt: Look cool without breaking the bank. Our durable, high-quality, pre-shrunk 100% cotton t-shirt is what to wear when you want to go comfortably casual. Preshrunk, durable and guaranteed.5.6 oz. 100% cotton. Standard fit.

Lots more bacon tees

6. Mr. Bacon’s Bacon Flavored Toothpaste

$6.94 – Buy it now!
Brushing your teeth with a strip of fried bacon is tricky. If it’s too crisp it will break apart as you brush and if it’s too limp you won’t be able to remove any of the plaque. So when it’s time to brush your teeth, leave the bacon strips for breakfast and try this Bacon Toothpaste. It’s the perfect way to keep your teeth and gums healthy while coating your mouth with the delicious flavor of smoky meat!

Bacon stuff for your home and office

7. I Love Bacon! [Hardcover]

$19.99 – Buy it now!
Legendary chef and food writer James Beard wrote of bacon, “There are few sights that appeal to me more than the streaks of lean and fat in a good side of bacon, or the lovely round of pinkish meat framed in delicate white fat that is Canadian bacon.” Whether you crave its flavorful crunch in the morning, the salty taste it lends to a Mediterranean BLT, or the way it transforms Spaghetti Carbonara, you’ll never be disappointed by bacon.

In I Love Bacon, Jayne Rockmill presents more than 50 bacon-themed recipes from some of America’s hottest chefs–from Cat Cora to Rick Tramonto, Ming Tsai, Jasper White, Andy Husbands and Joe Yonan, Pichet Ong, Bradford Thompson, John Besh, and many others–along with mouthwatering photography.

With instructions on how to make bacon from scratch and how to feature bacon in brunch dishes, small bites, soups, salads, sides, entrees, and even cocktails and desserts, this full-color cookbook proves that bacon isn’t just for breakfast anymore.

More bacon books

8. Ginch Gonch Men’s I Love Bacon – Sports Brief

$32.00 – Buy it now!
Sink your teeth into these I Love Bacon Sports Briefs with NEW crispy strip waistband.

There’s a girl’s version too!

9. Bacon Ornament

$6.48 – Buy it now!
From the glittery meat to the shiny metallic fat, this Bacon Ornament is totally blinged out. Each 4-1/2″ (11.4 cm) tall plastic ornament looks fantastic hanging from a backpack or rearview mirror but for even more fun try wearing one as a necklace to your next backyard barbecue! Also great for adding some meaty dazzle to a Christmas tree, especially if it’s one of those gaudy aluminum trees. Comes with a string for hanging.

Lots of stocking stuffers

10. Mr. Bacon – A handmade friend

Mr. Bacon is handmade with love in the USA using bacon-related techniques. It’s also important to know where your food comes from! Full nutrition facts included!
Bacon for the kiddos

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So last night he decided to make us a “light” supper of salad and (over-the-top, super rich) scallops with bacon cream sauce. Here is his recipe, as told to (and hopefully remembered by) me: Start by frying a few slices of bacon until super crisp. Removed the bacon to a paper towel, pour off the grease (to be used on Thursday’s turkey), and then add 1 cup heavy whipping cream to the pan along with a few good cranks of black pepper. Reduce by about 1/4. Chop the bacon to desired size and add to the cream. Reduce further until cream totals about 1/2 cup.

Meanwhile, lightly season scallops with salt and white pepper. Grill until browned on the outside and just slightly pink in the center. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of sauce onto a plate and top with scallops. The sauce is quite rich and, given the richness of scallops, this amount will be plenty.

Serve with a nice big salad; believe me, you won’t want any starch. Bon appetit!

Ingredients

1/2 pound each: bacon, ground beef, and ground turkey*
2 large eggs
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1 tsp. each: black pepper, cayenne, oregano, garlic powder

*Any ground meats will do…pork, lamb, veal. Just be sure to use equal parts of each.

Roughly chop bacon and place in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Blend until bacon is a paste-like consistency. Remove from processor and place in a large bowl with other ground meats. Add eggs, spices and bread crumbs and mix well with a silicone spatula. (Or use your hands…they’ll get plenty goopy once you start forming the meatballs anyway.)
Once ingredients are well-mixed, form a small portion of the mixture into a patty and fry it in a skillet until cooked through. Taste the patty; adjust seasonings to taste. I think the bacon gives the meat plenty of salt flavor, but you may wish to add salt or, if you prefer a spicier meatball, a little more cayenne.

Form meat mixture into 2 inch balls. Add to skillet in batches and brown on all sides. (Mine always go from balls to weird boxy shapes while browning…anyone know how to keep them round??) Once browned, you have two options for completing cooking:

1) place all meatballs in baking pan and bake in pre-heated oven at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, or
2) add to a sauce pan with your favorite pasta sauce, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.

This recipe makes 20-24 meatballs. I think that by using 1/3 bacon, you get the meaty consistency you want in a meatball, but the salty, smokey flavor still has a chance to shine through. Also, when using very lean meats like ground turkey, the bacon lends the fat content you need to make sure the meat stays tender and juicy throughout the cooking process.

The best news about this recipe is that it makes way too many meatballs for two people to eat in one sitting… meatball sandwich, anyone?

This is their pulled pork sandwich, which is decadent enough. But what takes this monster over the top are the three slices of thick-cut bacon. The pork was tender, the sauce was sweet and tangy and rich, the bacon was perfectly cooked to be slightly crisp yet still chewy. Topped with their green apple coleslaw, I definitely didn’t crave dessert. And yes, I did get the sweet potato fries instead of the salad. What are you insinuating?

When I took my first bite, I was sure I’d never be able to finish it; it was too rich, there was too much meat, too much everything! And yet, champion that I am, I powered through. Toward the end I reluctantly offered my husband a bite and it received his seal of approval as well.

If you go to Union Ale’s website link, you’ll see they’re about to launch the site and have added the title of Smokehouse to their name. I’m not sure what exactly this entails, but suddenly I’m very interested. You can count on me to do the hard work and research to bring you all the details in the coming weeks.

It’s that time of year again when RBS gets involved with a Genesis West fundraiser. This year, it’s a Spaghetti Western theme with a wide and weird variety of pastas, full-on barnyard atmosphere (live animals included), and a classic Western movie under the Santa Barbara stars. I’ll be on hand with my soon-to-be-famous bacon meatballs, and there’s a great raffle with lots of fun prizes.

Saturday, September 10 – 5 to 9 pm

Y’all come on down!

I bring this up today because John just clued us in to a new artisan ice cream truck called Sugar & Salt Creamery. I’ve been obsessed with ice cream lately; perhaps it’s this lovely summer heat. My local favorite, McConnell’s, generally has a line out the door, so I’m grateful to find a new alternative.

So what does this have to do with bacon? I’m glad you asked. While the flavors offered by Sugar & Salt will be ever-changing, their current list of offerings includes a Maple Brown Sugar Bacon ice cream. Maple, bacon’s most common sweet/salt partner, just isn’t my favorite. I’m sorry; you’d think it would have grown on a person like me, but it hasn’t. Fortunately, there are other sugary flavors that do work for my taste buds. Caramel is one, brown sugar is another. So maybe this will be the bacon ice cream that finally wins me over. I’ll certainly do my duty and give it a try.

So here we are, a small but powerful team of Bacon Girls, gearing up at 7 am for the big race. As you probably know, lots of people go all out with their costumes for the big day, often not even bothering to run or finish the race. What surprised me was how many actual runners were dressed to the nines. They outstripped us in originality by a mile. We didn’t get too elaborate with our costumes because we were afraid they would hinder our running ability, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of our fellow runners for the mighty pork belly. I can report that we heard the word “bacon” more than 100 times on the walk to the starting line, during the 81 minutes of run, and at the proceeding Footstock celebration. People were genuinely excited to see bacon on the course, and their three favorite lines were:

#3 – I love bacon!

#2 – Are you guys bacon?

#1 – BACON! (shouted; most often using the voice of the dog from the “Beggin’ Strips” commercial)

Sometimes it was just a single-worded utterance of surprise (bacon!) and we were glad when someone mixed it up, like the happy runner who asked us, “are you ladies bringing home the bacon?” Some super heroes thought it was worth their while to draft off the bacon (they totally beat us) and there was the occasional suggestion that we get in someone’s belly. But seriously, I never would have guessed how much joy a panful of bacon could bring to an already super fun event. Lots of people wanted their photo taken with bacon, and we can’t wait to find the links to all of their blogs or Flickr accounts so we can share them with you. (Like this one here. And the costume contest we really shouldn’t have entered!)

I cannot emphasize enough how fun Bay to Breakers was, all the more so because I didn’t die on the Hayes Street Hill. I’m already making plans for 2012. I have to thank my teammates, Naseem and Paige, for being the best bacon ever and crossing the finish line with me. I literally could not have done it without you. And for anyone interested in joining Team Bacon, either for runs in Santa Barbara or for next year’s B2B, please email us! Bacon is a total celebrity; this is your chance to get a piece of the action!

Lots of interesting looking stuff, but the bacon talk starts around 6:10. Wait for it… “Wait, so this is just bacon, syrup and tequila??” Yes Andy. That’s how the bacon nation rolls. Welcome.