There aren’t many ingredients I love more than bacon, so it’s not a huge surprise that I turned to The Bacon Cookbook for my next culinary project. Though I was looking for dinner dishes more than dessert, as someone who loves sweet-and-savory concoctions, I couldn’t resist some bacon peanut butter truffles.

These did turn out a little messier than I’d prefer. Part of this was probably due to substituting some of the butter with bacon fat, following The Wicked (Awesome) Whisk’s adaptation, for a stronger flavor of bacon. The chocolate coating didn’t set and harden perfectly, since the recipe doesn’t call for tempering, and I opted to skip the cocoa powder. I’m guessing it didn’t help that I used chocolate chips instead of bars, or that I might’ve been a little impatient and heated up the chocolate a little too quickly.

Some other notes: I didn’t have a food processor, so I chopped the peanuts with a knife. This meant that the truffle filling turned out slightly lumpy. Next time, I’d up the peanut butter and use fewer peanuts. But because I let the bacon get nice and crispy, it was very easy to handle.

Despite the messiness, these truffles are amongst the most delicious things I’ve ever made, if I may say so myself. Bacon’s yet to fail me.

Bacon and Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffles Recipe

adapted from The Bacon Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 6 slices lean streaky bacon
• 4 oz salted peanuts (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons bacon fat
• six 1-oz squares semisweet chocolate

In a large skillet, fry the bacon over moderate heat until crisp, drain on paper towels, and let cool completely. Reserve 2 tbls of the rendered bacon fat and let cool.

In a blender or food processor, combine the bacon, peanuts, and sugar and grind to a fine texture. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the peanut butter, and stir until well blended and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and chill about 1 hour.

Roll the mixture into balls about 1 inch in diameter, place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper, cover with plastic wrap, and chill about 30 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, combine the butter, reserved bacon fat, and chocolate in a small sauce pan and stir over very low heat till melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool until slightly warm.

Using a fork, coat the balls completely in the melted chocolate. Set them back on the baking sheet and refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes more). If there is melted chocolate left over, give the balls a second coating. Store in the refrigerator till ready to serve. Or eat them all now. It’s your choice….don’t think it’ll be an easy one.

via The Wicked (Awesome) Whisk