The Sticky Pig Candy Project

With this Saturday being International Bacon Day, I thought it would be fitting to devote my very first blog post to this wonderful pork product. Not long ago, the fantastic food blogger my last bite (who I follow on Twitter) posted a link to a recipe for "Sticky Pig Candy Stripes" found here. As a lover of bacon and the "sweet & salty" combo, I knew I had to give this a try. Last Sunday, I carved out a little time to do just that!

I used 1/2 cup of turbinado sugar along with 1/4 tsp each of cayenne pepper and ground ginger to make the spiced sugar mixture.  You really don't need to add any more than 1/4 tsp of each spice.  This amount gives it just enough of a "kick".

The oven is preheated to 400°F, and I lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper per recipe instructions.  I decided to go with thick sliced bacon this time.  I carefully applied about a teaspoon of the spiced sugar mixture onto each bacon slice, trying to avoid spilling excess sugar onto the parchment paper.

Into the oven for about 20 minutes (or until sugar has melted and bacon is crisp).  I ended transferring the bacon to another clean sheet of parchment paper (to get rid of any excess grease) before returning it to the oven to finish cooking.

There you have it!  The finished product was sticky, salty, sweet and delicious.  The cayenne and ginger add just the right amount of bite to offset the sweetness.  I might give this a go with regular sliced bacon next time-I think it will make for a crispier finished product.  I'll just have to be extra careful watching it so that it doesn't burn.

Bookmark this on Delicious