Carmelized Bacon Popcorn

By popular demand via Facebook, I am posting this.

Carmelized Bacon can be used in a variety of recipes. You can crumble it over a salad (don't expect to eat much of the lettuce, though), put it on a BLT, make it a way guilty snack, or put it in popcorn.

Here's my popcorn bacon recipe.

Cook 5 pieces of bacon in a stock pot until all of the fat is completely rendered. Don't worry about the state of the bacon. . .you are after the fat.

Add some vegetable oil and popcorn kernels, add a lid. . .and pop like you did when you were 10 years old (if you're my age. . .before the age of microwave popcorn and when Jiffy Pop was a novelty!)

In a bowl, mix 3 minced cloves of garlic (fresh is best) with 4 TB brown sugar, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and 2 TB olive oil. Mix into a paste. Add more oil to make the paste as needed.

Take 10 strips of raw bacon and slather each side with the paste. Put on either a wire rack on top of a baking sheet or on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 375 for 10 - 15 minutes. Check after 10 minutes every minute - you don't want it to burn. The bacon should appear crisp.

Let bacon stand for 5 minutes to crisp up further. Crumble into the popcorn and add 1 TB smoked paprika.

That is, if you don't eat all the bacon first. It's addictively awesome.

I put it in a salad one night and brought to my friend Toni's house. She picked all the bacon out and ate no salad. It's THAT good.

Enjoy!