Bacon Peanut Butter Brownie Bites

My entire apartment smells like bacon right now. I texted that to my sister, who’s on her way over right now, and she replied with, “Is that a bad thing?”
No it is not. Not at all.

In fact, my cat keeps trying to find “stealthy” ways of getting to the giant pile of bacon i had formed on my kitchen counter. Now he’s given up and just staring at me eat one of these delicious balls of chocolate peanut butter bacon-y awesomeness. I was going to just do brownies frosted with peanut butter frosting and then covered in bacon, but i made a bakers mistake and didn’t grease the pan enough and just ended up tearing it apart with my hands. Now they’re balls of chocolate brownie covered in frosting and rolled in bacon bits. Maybe even better than my original plan?

It’s been a rough week. All i want to do is endulge this weekend, and it’s exactly what i’m doing. Later on today i’m going to check out Queens Kickshaw here in Astoria. When i first moved here, there seemed no prospect of anything cool opening up in the neighborhood. But now Queens Kickshaw and Queens Comfort opened up, and i cannot be more excited for something cool and hip to finally come to this super old greek borough.
I also live down the street from The Bohemian Hall beer garden and i will definitely be hitting that up today too since the weather has finally cooled down a little and i can wear pants!

A while back i made bacon chocolate chip cookies, but i always knew it would not be the last time i combined bacon and chocolate together. This time i wanted to do the trifecta of salty and sweet and threw in some peanut butter for good measure. The balls of soft chocolate brownie, covered in creamy peanut butter and rolled in crispy salty bacon pieces is perfect for….well, anything. Birthdays, anniversaries, funerals. Yes. They are even perfect for funerals. There i said it.

bacon peanut butter brownie bites

Brownies:
1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons dark cocoa powder
11 ounces quality dark chocolate (60-72%), chopped coarsely
8 ounces butter (2 sticks), cut into 1 inch cubes
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
5 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter the sides and bottom of a glass or light colored metal pan 9x13x2 pan (I like to lay down a bit of parchment too, for easy removal from the pan).
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, the salt, and cocoa powder.
Configure a large sized double boiler. Place the chocolate, the butter, and the instant espresso powder in the bowl of the double boiler and stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water of the double boiler and add both sugars. Whisk the sugars until completely combined and remove the bowl from the pan. Mixture should be room temperature.
Add three eggs to the chocolate/butter mixture and whisk until just combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until just combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not over beat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.
Sprinkle the flour/cocoa/salt mix over the chocolate. Using a spatula (DO NOT USE A WHISK) fold the dry into the wet until there is just a trace amount of the flour/cocoa mix visible.
Pour the mixture into the pan and smooth the top with your spatula. Bake the brownies for 30 minutes (rotate the pan half-way through baking) and check to make sure the brownies are completely done by sticking a toothpick into the center of the pan. The brownies are done when the toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Once cake has been cooled, start digging into the brownies with your hands! This was the most fun part of this whole delicious endeavor. Start breaking apart pieces of the brownies and transferring it to a large bowl. Once all the brownie has been taken out of the brownie pan and into a bowl, knead the brownies till it’s all broken up and crumbly. Form small balls with your hands and place on a cooling rack lined with a silpat or foil. Once all your balls have been formed, put them in the fridge to solidify so you can make your frosting.

Peanut Butter frosting:
* 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
* 1 cup creamy peanut butter
* 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
* heavy cream

In a bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Add in peanut butter, vanilla, and salt. Mix until smooth-ish, then add in a little bit of cream until it gets frosting smoother. Add more cream until it gets to the consistency you desire.

Set aside the frosting and start frying up some bacon. I used an entire package of Boars Head bacon, which was about 10 strips of bacon. Once you’ve fried up all your bacon, chop it up into small pieces.

Assembly:
Take a brownie ball, roll it through your peanut butter frosting, then roll it through your bacon bits. Put completed brownie ball onto a baking sheet lined with something, or a lined container.

Keep at room temperature, lasts 1 week.