Candied Bacon Ice Cream

What we've got here is an already delicious rum ice cream base with sweet, sticky, salty, smoky candied bacon bits added. What more can I say? Either you're already drooling and scribbling down your grocery list, finally ordering that ice cream maker (if this doesn't push you over the edge, nothing will) or you're hopeless and might as well stick with fla•vor•ice or frozen woofys.

CANDIED BACON ICE CREAM

Yield: about 1 quart

candied bacon:

6 strips bacon

about 1/4 cup light brown sugar

ice cream custard:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

¾ cup (packed) brown sugar, light or dark

1-2 pinches of salt

2 ¾ cups half-and-half

5 large egg yolks

2 teaspoons dark rum or whiskey

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

optional: ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1.       To make the candied bacon:  Preheat oven to 400º F.

2.       Lay strips of bacon on a baking sheet lined with a foil (shiny side down) or a silicone mat.

3.       Sprinkle 1 ½-2 teaspoons of brown sugar evenly over each strip of bacon, depending on length.

4.       Bake for 12-16 minutes. Midway during baking, flip the bacon strips over and drag them through the dark, syrupy liquid that's collected on the baking sheet. Continue to bake until as dark as mahogany. Remove from oven and cool the strips on a wire rack.

5.       Once crisp and cool, chop into little pieces, about the size of grains of rice. (Bacon bits can be stored in an airtight container and chilled for a day or so, or stored in the freezer a few weeks ahead.)

6.       To make the ice cream custard, melt the butter in a heavy, medium-size saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar, salt and 1/2 of the half-and-half. Pour the remaining half-and-half into a bowl set in an ice bath and set a mesh strainer over the top.

7.       In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks, then gradually add some of the warm brown sugar mixture to them, whisking the yolks constantly as you pour. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.

8.       Cook over low to moderate heat, constantly stirring and scraping the bottom with a heatproof spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

9.       Strain the custard into the half-and-half, stirring over the ice bath, until cool. Add liquor, vanilla and cinnamon, if using.

10.   Refrigerate the mixture. Once thoroughly chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Add the bacon bits during the last moment of churning, or stir them in when you remove the ice cream from the machine.

barely adapted from David Lebovitz

bacon sprinkled with light brown sugar
(This is double the recipe amount.)

flipping the bacon

bacon turning a nice mahogany

bacon candy
I'm having sweet and spicy bacon flashbacks

melting the butter, sugar, salt and half 'n half

egg yolks tempered with some hot butter/half 'n half mixture

egg yolks added to pot

straining into the rest of the half 'n half

custard cooling in its ice bath

custard chilled and ready to churn

it's ice cream

adding the chopped bacon

ready to share

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