Everything tastes better with bacon

Julie asked me what I had planned for yet another day of canceled work to fight the cabin fever. Well... since I've pretty much run out of crafty things to do, I'm just cooking and baking up a storm. (Robbie is too, but that is normal.) This morning's culinary adventure involved my favorite ingredient: bacon.

I get a lot of flak from my family for liking meat a lot even though there's no proof that I love meat THAT much (except for the time I asked for ribs for a birthday meal... when I was 10 years old). I pretty much eat meat as much as the next guy, if not less. Robbie is not a big meat eater. By default, I'm not really a big meat eater either.

But bacon! I love bacon. I love bacon in everything. And a few years ago my mom gave everyone cookbooks called Everything Tastes Better With Bacon (actually, I didn't get one because it was a gift for married people only, but my sister Bonny doesn't eat meat and sent it to me in the hopes that I would find joy in it [her words]) and while most of the recipes leave something to be desired (shucked oysters wrapped in bacon? bacon and chicken livers?), the breakfast recipes look pretty delicious, AND we had bacon left over from a delicious quiche that Robbie made a couple of days ago. So this morning I baked this fluffy beauty:


And it was delicious. (And it didn't take that long... probably 30 minutes or so for the whole process.) It's really windy outside today and the smoky smell of bacon helped me pretend that it is still fall outside. (In reality, it is bone-chillingly cold.) Since I don't have a blog dedicated to my culinary experiments, here is the recipe in all its glory. For my epicurean vegetarian friends... you can leave out the bacon and it'll probably turn out fine. (But WHY WOULD YOU??!!)

Sweetie-Pie Pancake with Brown Sugar Apples and Bacon
Serves 2 to 4

• 3 eggs at room temperature
• 1/2 cup milk at room temperature
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 thick smoked or unsmoked bacon slices (3 oz uncooked), cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 medium or 2 small crisp, tart apples
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• Powdered sugar for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and flour until combined. The batter may be slightly lumpy. Set aside.
3. In an ovenproof medium heavy skillet, cook the bacon pieces over low to medium-low heat, turning as needed to brown but not crisp. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper towel to drain. Pour off the bacon drippings.
4. Peel, core, and cut the apples into 1/4-inch slices. In the same skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the apple slices and sauté for 3 minutes. Turn the apples and sauté for 3 minutes longer. Sprinkle the aples with the brown sugar, then with the bacon. Cook for 1 minute.
5. Whisk the batter for 30 seconds and pour it over the apple mixture. Bake until the pancake puffs up and is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Using an oven mitt to hold the skillet's hot handle, remove from the oven. Dust the pancake with powdered sugar, slice, and serve immediately.

Robbie wouldn't let me take a picture of his "I just woke up" face. So here's his arm. And his water. We're not milk drinkers around here and we ran out of orange juice. A balanced breakfast, right?

Om nom nom nom.