Whiskey, Caramel, Marshmallow, and Bacon Bark

After making milk chocolate bacon bark and beer brittle for New Year’s Eve, I couldn’t stop there.  Blame the overachiever in me, but I figured if bacon and chocolate is good, then combining bacon, whiskey, chocolate, and marshmallow can only be better.  The end result? A heavenly confection combining things that you’d never think would go together, but somehow just work.

My only complaint about this is that after refrigerating it to set, the caramel hardened significantly.  Bringing it back up to room temperature helped, but not entirely.  I’ll have to experiment with this further to see what kind of changes might fix that.  Trust me though, it’s worth a few cavities.

Whiskey, Caramel, Marshmallow and Bacon Bark

Ingredients:

for the bacon crumble:

• 16 oz. good bacon
• 1/4 C. sugar
• 4 Tbs. water
• 1 egg white
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

for the caramel filling:

• 1 C. sugar
• 4 Tbs. water
• 4 Tbs. butter
• 7 Tbs. heavy cream

for the marshmallow layer:

• 4 C. mini marshmallows
• 5 Tbs. whiskey

to assemble:

• 16 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

Directions:

Line an 8×8 inch baking dish with parchment paper.

To make the bacon crumble, cook the bacon until crispy, set aside to cool, and then crumble into small pieces.

Heat oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put the sugar and water in a medium saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves.

Toss bacon in the sugar mixture to coat and drain excess using a mesh strainer.

Beat egg white until fluffy and foamy then stir in the black and cayenne pepper. Add the crumbled bacon and toss to coat completely.

Spread coated bacon on prepared baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven, cool, and crumble again.

Melt half of chocolate in a double boiler, or microwave.  Spread into bottom of prepared baking dish.  Put the dish in the freezer to set for five minutes.

Make the marshmallow layer by melting the marshmallows in a large saucepan over medium heat until web-like strands start to form.

Remove from heat and stir in the whiskey.

Pour marshmallow mixture over chocolate layer and spread evenly (spray a spatula with cooking spray to keep the marshmallow from sticking).

Make the caramel filling by combining sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir until sugar dissolves and use a wet pastry brush to remove crystals that form on the sides of the pan.

Once sugar dissolves, increase heat to high. Swirl the pot using the handle (do not stir directly!!) to keep the mixture moving. The mixture will start to bubble after one minute.

When the mixture turns a medium amber color (5-7 minutes), add the butter and cream to the pan.  The mixture will rapidly bubble, this will subside as the mixture cools. Set aside to cool completely, then spread over the marshmallow layer.

Finish the bark by melting the remaining half of chocolate. Spread over the marshmallow layer, then top with the crumbled bacon.

Refrigerate to set, bring to room temperature before cutting.

Source: Endless Simmer