BACON Pumpkin Bars

[iceman]

Here's one for all of us die hard bacon lovers.






It's bacon!
How do you improve pumpkin bars? Add a caramel "butter cream" frosting and bacon!
We ditched ordinary cream cheese frosting in favor of caramel butter cream. While not a traditional Italian butter cream, the method is similar. For the Italian variety, you whip sugar syrup into egg whites or yolks and then beat in soft butter. We cook the sugar syrup until it's caramel and then whip it alone until it's super-thick. It'll look a little grainy, but after about 8 minutes of whipping, it'll be cool enough to add cream cheese, ensuring the frosting is smooth and creamy. Bacon is the perfect finish for these bars.
In fact, it takes these pumpkin bars to a new level. Smoky and salty, crunchy bits of bacon complement the caramel frosting, while bacon drippings in the pumpkin-cake layer give a hint of the flavor there, too, making it the surprise star of these bars.


Pumpkin Caramel Bars with bacon

Bacon adds out-of-this world flavor to these bars, but if you're not feeling adventurous, substitute chopped pecans for the bacon instead.
Makes 24 bars
Total time: 1 hour + cooling


FOR THE BARS-

8 oz. bacon, diced
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. table salt
1 ½ cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup chopped, toasted pecans (optional)

FOR THE FROSTING-

2 cups packed brown sugar
1/3 cup water
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 stick unsalted butter, cubed
4 oz cream cheese cut into 1 inch cubes
Sea salt (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 9xl 3-inch baking pan with nonstick spray. Cook bacon in a sauté pan over medium heat until crisp; drain on a paper-towel-lined plate and set aside. Reserve 2 Tbsp. drippings. Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and table salt for the bars in a medium bowl; set aside. Whisk together pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, egg, melted butter, bacon drippings, and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended. Stir in flour mixture and pecans. Spread pumpkin batter evenly into prepared pan; bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Bacon drippings in the pumpkin layer add a subtle smoky taste. Melted butter can be substituted. Boil 2 cups brown sugar, water,
and pinch of salt for the frosting in a large saucepan over high heat, 5 minutes, gently swirling occasionally to prevent scorching. Whisk in cream and butter pieces.
(Mixture will bubble furiously keep whisking.) Boil 2 minutes more. Transfer caramel to the bowl of a stand mixer; whip on high speed until sides of bowl are cool to
the touch and caramel is thick,8- 10 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add cream cheese, 1 cube at a time, until frosting is smooth. Frost cooled bars. Finely chop cooked bacon and sprinkle onto frosted bars with sea salt. Store bars in the refrigerator up to 1 week.

[SouthernSmoked]

Bacon bits...

[classicrockgriller]

ice, now that would be just a grand finish to a big ole breakfast.

[Gizmo]

Iceman,
can you fix the measurements with the unique ' , characters.

[iceman]

I scanned the document Giz and thats the way it comes out when I paste it. I'll mess with it when I get time and re write the measurements unless some one knows an easier way to fix it. (Hint, hint)  ;D

[Tenpoint5]

I hope someone fixes it. I have a friend of the family that I know I can bribe into making this for me!!

[iceman]

I fixed the recipe guys. Check it out and let me know how it looks.  :)

[RossP]

I just wish I wasn't on a diet right now, drool keeps getting on my keyboard. :-\

[Chez Bubba]

What lovely soft hands there Icy. What's your secret? ;D

[KyNola]

WOW! Blast from the past.  Hey Chez Bubba!

[Habanero Smoker]

I made this last weekend and I loved it, but many others that I served it to thought it was too rich. I made one minor error by not bringing the temperature of the frosting high enough, so the frosting was a little softer then I wanted. I will definitely make this again.

What lovely soft hands there Icy. What's your secret? ;D

Hi Chez;

Good to see you posting again. Hope you become a regular again.

[iceman]

Hiya Chez. Good to hear from you my friend. Please keep it touch. ;D

[KyNola]

Any guesses on what Jan's making tomorrow? :D

[Habanero Smoker]

To me this is great stuff, just remember to cook the frosting in at least a 3 or 4 quart sauce pan, or it will boil over if it is in a 2 quart pan or less. Also boil it for the length of time and heat setting the recipe calls for. I'm not sure if I whipped my too long, or didn't boil it enough, but my frosting was a little on the soft side. Since I used a small 2 quart pan, and was having trouble with it boiling over, I tend to think I didn't boil long enough and/or use too low of a heat setting.

If you smoked your own bacon use it, if not use the smokey thick cut bacon you can find. I was out of my own bacon, so I went with Wright Hardwood Smoked bacon.

[KyNola]

That brand of bacon is exactly what's going in ours today.  Jan and I just put the bars together and they just came out of the oven.  **Note to others making these**the batter is extremely thick so don't be alarmed that you did something wrong.  Jan and I both panicked!  Just out of the oven and waiting for them to cool.  Will make the caramel icing soon!

Man these smell good already.

Thanks again Ice!