Vanilla Bean Bacon Caramels

For my next post of the day, I made some Vanilla Bean Bacon Caramels. I know it sounds soooo bizarre. And it is very strange. But I kind of relate it to eating candied bacon or bacon dipped in maple syrup. After I made these bacon caramels, well I kind of went bacon crazy. I ended up making some Bacon Caramel Chocolate Chunk Cookies and some Candied Bacon Caramel Ice Cream. So I'll be posting them later this weekend. Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Bacon Caramels

For the Caramels:

½C Sugar

½C Dark Brown Sugar

1C Corn Syrup

1 Stick of Butter

1C Heavy Cream, Divided

¼C Maple Syrup

1 Vanilla Bean Pod, Split Lengthwise & Scraped for Beans

6 Strips of Thick-Cut Bacon, Fried to a Crisp & Roughly Chopped

Salt, For Sprinkling

Directions:

1. Reserve ½C of the heavy cream. Combine the sugars, corn syrup, butter, maple syrup, vanilla bean pod, and vanilla beans in a medium saucepan. Stir to combine. Set on medium high heat. Stir occasionally and cook until 240 degrees. The candy is now at the firm-ball stage. Remove from the stove and carefully stir in the remaining ½C of Cream. Place the pan back on the heat and continue to cook to 245 degrees. Immediately remove from heat and stir in ¾ of the Cooked, Chopped bacon (saving the other ¼ of the cooked bacon for topping). Pour the caramel into a buttered dish (8x8 dish=thick caramels & 9x13 dish=thin caramels). Scatter the remaining bacon on top. Let it set for at least 3 hours before cutting.

source: bacon caramels. vanilla bean caramels.


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