Extreme Bacon Infused Caramel Hot Chocolate

Intro: Extreme Bacon Infused Caramel Hot Chocolate

Hot chocolate is my favorite hot beverage for those cold snowy days! It soothes the spirit and comforts the soul! Not just any bacon caramel hot chocolate will fit the bill! It must be the real deal to soothe the spirit and sway the soul! You can't go wrong with an"Extreme Bacon Caramel Hot Chocolate."

Follow through and I will prove it to you! By the way don't run away too fast, it taste tantalizing without the bacon flavor!

STEP 1: Baking Chocolate and Bakers Sugar

Did you know that on the back label of Hershey's Cocoa is a recipe for Baking chocolate? In my opinion it taste much better than the type you buy in the squares. Do you notice that shortening or oil is one of the ingredients to add to the Cocoa powder to make the baking chocolate? When I grew up bacon fat was often used to enhance the flavor of baked goods, especially in pies. Think of it as a southern baker's butter! I made some baking chocolate using the bacon fat and the flavor was surprisingly good. the bitter-sweet complimented the bacon flavor! If you can't get past the idea of using bacon fat use oil or shortening instead, the flavor just might surprise you!

I would like to share another thing with you about "Bakers sugar." Bakers sugar is a finer grain of regular table sugar. It is not as fine as powdered sugar. You can make your own by grinding table sugar using a coffee grinder or possibly a blender if the blender will blend to a fine texture. Sugar is another ingredient added to Hershey's Cocoa to make baking chocolate.

Whole milk is a luxury in my household. After my children grew up and moved away from home, we do not buy fresh milk, because it spoils before we get a chance to drink it all. I have been buying canned milk and using powdered milk for cooking. When I was a child I grew up on whole milk, in fact, my mother always bought raw milk. I have noticed the milk that is sold today does not have the same wonderful flavor that I remember. Occasionally I will have my husband buy a quart of Price's whole milk. It is better in my opinion than other brands. They sell ice-cream that is pretty tasty also. I am sure that organic milk is even better but I rarely buy organic because of the price.

STEP 2: Ingredients and Utensils

1. Hershey's Coco
2. Maraschino Cherries
3. Marsh-mellows
4. Smucker's Caramel Topping
5. Whole Milk Room temperature or slightly cooler but not cold.
6. Bacon Fat
7. Bakers sugar optional
8. Pumpkin Spice optional
9. Bacon

Utensils:

• Blender
• Double broiler
• Wooden spoon
• Bowl
• Whisk
• Jar or bottle with a lid
• Favorite cup
• Spoon
• Skewers
• Cookie sheet
• Fine food strainer or paper coffee filter
• 2 Drinking straws cut to fit your coffee cup
• Paper towels

STEP 3: Measure Ingredients

Recipe:

• 6 Level Tablespoons Hershey's Cocoa
• 2-3 Level Tablespoons slightly melted ( not hot )bacon fat ( You want the brown part at the bottom of the jar.)
• 6 Level Tablespoons Smucker's Caramel Topping
• 2 teaspoons Bakers sugar or any sweetener

You might want to follow the instructions on the Hersey's can omitting the oil and adding the bacon fat for a smaller amount to test and see if you like it. It should make about 2 cups of hot chocolate.

For the hot chocolate:

• Whole Milk (as much as needed )
• Crisp cooked bacon strips (1 per cup of hot chocolate)
• Pumpkin spice ( optional: dash )
• 1 Cherry per cup
• 1 Marsh-mello per cup
• 2-4 heaping spoonfuls chocolate caramel syrup

Side note:

• I strained the bacon fat to remove most of the bacon bits, but if your interested in using this for a topping over food, I would leave the small pieces in there.

STEP 4: Mix and Heat

Mix the ingredients:

• Mix the sugar with the Cocoa.
  
• Add Caramel to the bacon fat and mix thoroughly.
• Add the sugar and cocoa mixture to the bacon fat and caramel mixture and mix thoroughly. Please see bottom note before proceeding.

Heat the syrup in a double-broiler until the sugar is completely dissolved and remove from the heat and pour cocoa syrup in a jar with a lid and store in the refrigerator until further use.

STEP 5: Bacon Skewer Garnish for Hot Chocolate

Cook Bacon:

Decide how long you want the skewers to be and cut to suit your needs.
Put the bacon on a skewer and form a twist.
Place the skewers on the cookie sheet in such a way that the ends do not get soaked with bacon drippings.
Bake until semi crispy approximately 25-30 minutes.
Set on paper towels to absorb the bacon drippings and allow to cool to touch.
Add a marsh-mellow and a cherry for garnish.

STEP 6: Heat Syrup

Heat the syrup mixture for the cocoa:

Heat the syrup mixture in the double broiler until the syrup is melted.
Slowly whisk the room temperature milk into the melted syrup.
Pour into a blender and blend thoroughly.

STEP 7: Heat Chocolate Mixture

Pour the cocoa mixture back into the double broiler on medium heat until it begins to froth very nicely but be careful not to scorch the milk.
If it does not froth it is not an Extreme cup of hot chocolate!

STEP 8: Serve Hot Coco

Pour hot cocoa into a cup.
Top with a marsh-mellow or whip cream and a dash of pumpkin spice if desired. I added shredded Snicker's bar to the top at the courtesy of my husband who went to the store and brought me home my favorite chocolate candy bar! It was very tasty!
Add bacon skewer.
2 Straws
Enjoy your steaming cup of hot chocolate!

I will let you in on a little secret, the last picture is a steaming cup of coffee! I could not resist adding it to this step . . . because . . . I am mighty proud of that picture because it took 1000 takes to get a steaming picture I was proud of. I am flaunting it here! It may not be perfect, but it was the best one and I was getting tired! If you look real close you should be able to see the steam.

STEP 9: Sunshiine's Final Thoughts

My husband really loved the hot chocolate. He noticed the bacon and caramel flavor right off! I thought using the recipe for the bakers chocolate gave the hot chocolate a unique blend that caught your taste buds off guard in a pleasant way. I have been experimenting with this recipe and discovered that a change occurs when the syrup is heated and the fat does not float up at the top. You do have some fat there but it is not bad at all in my opinion.

I wish to thank instructables, our sponsors, authors, and loyal readers for making this a great place to share! Please come back soon and have a happy day!
sunshiine

Comments

[mkitty]

I luv bacon

[mkitty]

Yummy

[Kitana Kellaway]

sounds great!!

[sunshiine]

It was good! Thanks for stopping by and hope your day is happy and bright!
sunshiine

[moonchylde]

I am both terrified and intrigued by this recipe. While I cannot try this myself (got the beetus), I might have to make this for my favorite Guinea pigs - I mean, friends.

[sunshiine]

They will like it! Thanks for stopping by and do have a splendorous day!
sunshiine

[sunshiine]

They will like it! Thanks for stopping by and do have a splendorous day!
sunshiine

[bajablue]

oh... my... YUM!!!! ;-P~

[sunshiine]

We both really liked it! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you had a very happy Easter!
sunshiine

[anatroccolo]

I love your Instructables but chocolate and bacon? I don't know, I'm not that brave..
I love salted caramel, but bacon and sweet stuff is not my thing.
Still I love the way you served it.
I might be brave, one day, and try it...
;)

[sunshiine]

The beauty of the recipe is you can get creative and make any combination you like. I chose chocolate and bacon because it seems to be quite popular right now. Try caramel and chocolate and omit the bacon and use a pretzel stick as garnish, and see what you think. It is fun to experiment. A lot of fantastic recipes were created quite by accident, by food explorers! Who would think peppers and jam would make a good combination. How about fair foods that are totally weird! I like your recipes instructables also! Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting! Have a splendorous day!
sunshiine

[anatroccolo]

I'm with you with experimenting but up to a point! :D
I'm sure there are things I don't like together even without trying them. Bacon and chocolate is one of those. ;P
I'm sure that if somebody preparared it I would give it a try though, but being in Italy I think that that is highly improbable.
Have a happy Easter if you celebrate it or have a nice holiday time anyway.
:)

[sunshiine]

Thanks for your input as it is interesting how people like yourself and MC. from different countries view food combinations. Have a Happy Easter as well!
sunshiiine

[mclare50]

Have a great day as well! Great instrutable!

[sunshiine]

Thanks!

[Pavlovafowl]

Hi Sunshine, not only do I make hot chocolate with organic milk but raw organic milk, I buy it direct from the farm where I buy my chicken grain for sprouting. You are so much better off buying organic milk because of the cows being on grass pasture, there will be no GMOs in their winter feed and they are not treated with antibiotics and hormones, they are also very well cared for. We have an old car, no credit cards, no gadgets, use very little electricity, so we can afford a 100% organic diet. We also grow a lot of our own organic food and raise our own organic poultry. In the long run it is so worth it, you don't get the health problems either associated with a non organic diet., you are helping to care for the planet and you are not contributing to the horrid coffers of battery farms, they have these for cows too, which is where 'cheap' milk comes from!! One of the extra plusses of raw milk is it will remineralise your teeth, which ordinary milk can not - so no dentist bill either. All the very best from France and thanks for the instructables, you always make interesting ones! Sue

[sunshiine]

Thanks so much for the interesting read! We are striving to do just what you are talking about here. We are a few months away I hope! I am looking forward to a different way of living! Thanks Sue, for stopping by and I hope your day will bring unexpected pleasures!
sunshiine

[Pavlovafowl]

Hi Sunshine,
All the very best and good luck with your project, you will never regret it. We got out of the 'rat-race' in 2000 and have lived every minute of every day since unlike the pure existing for most of the weekday before. I hope the same for you, you wished for me. Three lambs born up the fields on the day you wrote that, so we had a real idea that Spring had arrived at last, Sue

[sunshiine]

Aw thanks for sharing that and for the compliment! I do miss farm life and for us it is in the near future but we have to finish the work here and then . . . we move, perhaps in the fall. I thought spring had arrived here because all the fruit trees were in blossom and the trees are budding and the birds are nesting and the weathers long term projection was looking very good and I told my neighbor who lives next door 4 months out of the year, that our weather was going to be perfect while she was here and then BOOM! 3 nights it was in the teens! We experience late frost more often that I like to admit. Life does throw a few curve balls but in reality they are only small inconveniences! Again thanks so much for sharing and do have a splendid day!

[mclare50]

I feel the same with my pets when I lose them. I'm sad at the beginning, but then I remember all of the things we did together.