Bacon in Desserts & A Maple Bourbon Apple Pie with a Bacon Pecan Crust Recipe!

Photo from Tasty Trials

Follow Me Foodie Friday to Bacon in Desserts & My Recipe for Maple Bourbon Apple Pie with a Bacon Pecan Crust!

At 11am today, on NEWS 1130AM radio, I discussed the love for bacon and the use of it in desserts. If you missed it, what the heck were you thinking?! Just kidding! But here’s a recap! Or listen to it here. Just a friendly reminder, but you can catch me bi-weekly on NEWS 1130AM every Friday at 11am – see here.

This post includes the bacon desserts I mentioned, but there’s more in the city I have yet to discover! If you just like bacon and aren’t keen on sweets I have something for you too. Check out my post for The Pork Belly, Bacon & Fatty Meat Series!

I personally love sweet and savoury combinations and the concept of using bacon in desserts is becoming quite popular in Vancouver. With Maple Bacon Doughnuts and Bacon Ice Cream Sandwiches, bacon cupcakes and bacon chocolate truffles, bacon is sure warming up to the sweeter side of life.

Bacon Maple Ice Cream Sandwich from Meat & Bread

Maple Bacon Donut from Swiss Bakery

Chocolate Chip, Pecan & Bacon Cookie from Save-On Meats

Breakfast (Bacon) Chocolate Bar from Xoxolat

Bacon Chili Cupcake & Breakfast Cupcake (filled with bacon and egg custard) from ManCakes Bakery

Here is my recipe for a Maple Bourbon Apple Pie with a Bacon Pecan Crust. Bacon and apple? Not uncommon. Pecan and apples? Not uncommon. All together and topped with maple and spiked with Bourbon? Uncommon, and delicious! I’m so tempted to throw cheddar cheese into the crust so it’s even crispier, but I’ll start you off slow with my unconventional non-Stepford wife recipes!

My recipe for this was inspired by a Maple Bourbon Ice Cream Sandwich I ended up eating with bacon at an epic foodie BBQ this summer – see here. This is the pie version of it, made 2.0.  It is a sweet, savoury and nutty dessert that’s perfect for summer BBQ’s… or breakfast. Bacon for breakfast and you get your serving of fruit too! I’m so efficient! I’d call it a great start to the day, and a “healthy balance”… okay well maybe it’s not doctor approved, but it’s Follow Me Foodie approved.

Note: The measurements are a bit rough, and you may have to taste along the way and adjust accordingly to your own preferences.

Maple Bourbon Apple Pie with a Bacon Pecan Crust Recipe

Serves 8.

Crust

¼ cup of crispy fresh bacon bits (cooled)
¼ cup of toasted unsalted pecans (cooled)
2 tsp sugar
1 ¼ cups unbleached all purpose flour
½ cup chilled unsalted butter cut into cubes
4 tbsp ice water, or more until dough bind together
12-15 strips of uncooked bacon
1/4 cup crushed pecans lightly tossed in maple syrup

Filling

3-4 Medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
¼ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp fresh lemon juice
¼ cup maple syrup
½ tsp vanilla
5 tbsp Bourbon
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp unsalted butter cut into cubes
Maple syrup for brushing bacon strips

Crust

1. Coarsely grind together the crispy bacon and toasted pecans until a coarse crumble forms.

2. Combine flour, sugar, bacon and pecan mixture.

3. Using a food processor add the chilled butter to flour mixture and pulse until the butter is the size of peas and combined.

4. Add ice water a tbsp at a time until the dough forms into a ball.  Flatten dough into a disk, wrap and chill for 2 hours or overnight.

5. Preheat oven to 375°F.

6. Roll out dough and cover bottom of pie pan. Peirce dough with a fork about 10 times and bake in oven for 30-35 minutes of until fully cooked and browned.

Filling:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Combine apples, sugar, lemon juice, maple syrup, vanilla, Bourbon, cinnamon and butter in a large skillet and toss over medium high heat until liquid starts to bubble and apples get fork tender. Stir occasionally so it doesn’t stick.

3. Bring to a simmer and allow juices to reduce and thicken into a syrup. Transfer apples to separate bowl with 4-5 tbsp of syrup from the skillet.

4. Fill pre-baked pie crust with apple mixture and syrup.

5. Take uncooked bacon strips and create a lattice crust by alternating strips – see here if you need help.

6. Brush bacon strips with maple syrup and sprinkle maple syrup coated pecans on top of pie.

7. Bake the pie for 20 minutes or until bacon is crisp and fully cooked and pecans are caramelized.

8. Optional: Serve with maple Bourbon ice cream, or maple pecan/walnut ice cream and bacon bit sprinkles on top.