Bacon... Fudge?

You heard me. Bacon Fudge. Bacon Maple Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge, to be exact. The original recipe was found via NPR.

Ingredients:

1/4 C butter

1 14oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 C Peanut Butter Chips

1 1/2 C Chocolate Chips

1/2 tsp maple extract

1 lb maple-flavored bacon

Step 1: Cook bacon until crisp. Crumble.

Step 2: Combine all ingredients, except bacon, in a large saucepan.

Step 3: Stir mixture over medium heat until chips and butter are melted and smooth.

Step 4: Remove from heat. Stir in bacon, reserving about a 1/2 C of bacon pieces for topping.

Step 5: Pour mixture into foil-lined and greased square pan. Sprinkle remaining bits over the top, pressing in lightly.

Step 6: Cover. Let set in fridge at least four hours, preferably overnight.

Step 7: Cut into squares (about 7x7, or 49 total.) Served best at room temperature.

Moose Tracks:

I'm lazy. I also don't like too much maple in my life. So I did precooked/precrumbled bacon bits - regular flavor. One bag of that did this recipe justice.

This recipe is crazy simple. There's no need to boil anything, no need to worry about temperatures or candy thermometers.

I've adapted this recipe in other ways. By changing up the extract or leaving out the bacon, you can create so many different fudge types.

Earlier today I made peanut butter fudge, chocolate fudge, mint chocolate fudge, and raspberry chocolate fudge - all using this recipe as the base. It's kind of perfect.