Candied Bacon-Studded Dark Chocolate Rounds

Before you let out a blood-curdling scream and start throwing your shoes at me, please be informed that the pairing of chocolate and bacon is nothing new. In fact, this is one of my fun reverse-engineering projects based on an existing chocolate product, which I used to buy. Since I do not buy that product any longer (don't ask why, because I won't tell), I thought I would make my own.

As it turns out, I like mine better, much better. I've taken an extra step of candying the bacon which has proven to be worth the effort. The candied bacon bits permeating the dark chocolate rounds remind me of crunchy bits of nougat found in a famous chocolate bar. The only difference is that these "nougat bits" are smoky and a bit salty. When paired with chocolate, the duo demonstrates a sublime coexistence of sweet and salty that's just impossible to resist.


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This is very easy to make and I don't know if you even need a recipe. I usually use one 12-ounce package of smoked bacon per one pound of chocolate couverture. But you can play around with different ratios to see what works best for you. As for the type of chocolate, I like to use Valrhona or Callebaut dark chocolate as I always have those two on hand. You can use what you like. A combination of dark and milk might be nice too. For the bacon, I prefer applewood-smoked uncured bacon. But, again, you use what you like. Your pork. Your chocolate. Your call.

I start off by preparing my bacon. To minimize the greasy mess, I put the bacon strips in a single layer on a paper towel-lined microwave-proof plate, place another layer of paper towel on top, and nuke it on high for a minute. Some of the fat will be rendered out and absorbed by the paper towel. I lightly press down the top piece of paper towel to squeeze out some more fat. Then I arrange the bacon strips on a parchment- or Silpat-lined cookie sheet in a single layer.

One teaspoon of brown sugar is evenly sprinkled on each bacon strip. Then I put the bacon under the broiler on low for a few minutes, flipping them a couple of times to ensure even browning. Keep an eye on them as they burn easily. When the brown sugar melts and forms crispy crusts on the golden bacon strips, remove the cookie sheet from the broiler and transfer the candied bacon onto a paper towel-lined plate to allow them to cool. Once the bacon strips have cooled and crisped up, I chop them up very finely and set that aside while I work on the chocolate.


Now about the chocolate - if you want your chocolate rounds to be glossy without cloudy streaks on the surface, you need to temper your chocolate. There are several ways to do so. I normally use the tablier method as it is the one with which I've had the most success. I'm still learning, though. My success/failure rate is currently at 70/30 which is much better than last year when I was at 40/60. I think people who tell you that tempering chocolate without a machine is easy are either delusionally optimistic, prodigiously gifted, or outright deceptive. To do it right takes practice and lots of it.

If you look at the top picture, you can see I still have a way to go. I've gotten the snap down, but the gloss is not quite there. For those of you who are not picky, you can just use your melted chocolate right off the double-boiler. The chocolate rounds will take longer to harden and won't have the "gloss and snap" characteristic of properly-tempered chocolate. But there is no difference in taste whether the chocolate is tempered or not.

Once the chocolate has been tempered or melted, fold in the candied bacon bits. Drop the mixture by the spoonfuls onto a large piece of waxed paper. (You should end up with about 40 1.5-inch rounds if you use one pound of chocolate and 12 ounces of bacon.) Properly-tempered chocolate will harden very quickly whereas simply-melted chocolate will take around 15-20 minutes.

So, there you go -- dark chocolate rounds with candied bacon bits that are absolutely neither kosher nor halal. They're easy to make and the taste is very addictive. The procedure may involve a few steps, but here's the thing -- it's chocolate and bacon. You could whip this up while operating a motorbike at 60 MPH and rote-counting in Spanish backwards at the same time, and I'm willing to bet that it will still come out delicious.