An ode to Bacon

Morning, everyone!  Hope you're doing OK.  I am blogging from my bed this morning, since the combo of a rainy day at Yankees Stadium + Scott catching a cold = No match for me.  So since we had dueling bowls of chicken soup for dinner last night, I thought I'd show you something a little more interesting....

When I heard about Foodbuzz's contest sponsored by Denny's for their new Baconalia menu, my brain started spinning with all the fun possibilites to use everyone's favorite guilty pleasure.  I had a few ideas, but I knew one thing:  It was going to be a combo of my favorites: Sweet & salty!  And when someone (hi, JK!) mentioned PIE, it was a done deal!  Sooooooo I present to you:

Bacon Peanut Butter Pie!!!

Because if your going to use one glorious ingredient (bacon), you might as well add another (my beloved PB:)

So of course, we must start with the bacon:

I took four strips and placed them on a cooling rack over a foil lined baking sheet.  I divided 2 tablespoons of brown sugar among the four strips, and baked at 375 until they were crispy...

(yes, I'm aware there's 5 strips in the picture:)  I forgot to take a new picture and just wanted to show you the 'set up':)

While the bacon was cooking up, I got to working on the crust....and nothing sounded like a better base for a sweet & salty pie thennnn....

Pretzels!

I ground the pretzels to create enough crumbs to cover the pie plate (about 1 1/2 cups)...

Next I mixed with the pretzel crumbs:

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• The bacon drippings from the cooked brown sugar bacon, about 1 tablespoon

Pour the mixture into a pie plate and press evenly to form the pie crust.  Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes or until the crust turns golden brown.  Let cool completely.

While the crust was cooling, I got working on the Peanut Butter Center:

Mix:

• 1 cup creamy Peanut Butter
• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, room temp.
• 1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 (8 oz.) container of Cool Whip

Cream together the peanut butter & cream cheese before slowly adding in the confectioners sugar...

...Next:  Fold in the Cool Whip:

...and finally, the ingredient of honor:  1 & 1/2 strips the cooled brown sugar bacon, minced VERY fine...

Pour mixture in pie plate and refrigerate until set.

And finally, my favorite part of the recipe:  The BACON WHIPPED CREAM!!!

Combine 1 pint of heavy cream in a saucepan, along with 2 strips of the brown sugar bacon (crumbled).  Allow to come to a boil, before reducing heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove from heat and strain the cream with a fine sieve.  Place cream in fridge to chill.  Once the cream is cold, strain AGAIN to remove any fatty solids and pour strained cream into a mixing bowl.  Slowly add 1/3 cup of powdered sugar and whip on high until stiff peaks form.  Place in fridge to set.

Once everything is set, top the peanut butter layer with the bacon whipped cream and top with the remaining 1/2 sliced of bacon, chopped.

WALLAH!  Bacon Pie!:)

This pie is suuuupeeerrr rich, but really: would you expect anything else? :)  The salty crust mixed with the savory peanut butter & bacon center topped with the sweeeeeeet bacon flavored whipped cream just knocked our socks off!  It tasted even BETTER after it sat in the fridge over night:)  Win or lose, it was certainly a fun experiment!

Disclaimer:  My post was created as part of the Denny's and Foodbuzz BACONALIA challenge and is an entry for a chance to win a prize.

So, I hope everyone has a good Tuesday.  Mine shall involve not moving very far from the couch today:(  We have another soup on the menu tonight, but I think you'll like this one!  Stay tuned;)