What’s for dinner: Maple Bacon Crack

Published 5:25 pm Monday, December 13, 2021

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By Sarah Condley
1-pound bacon
1 package Pillsbury crescent rolls
1/2 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Line a rimmed baking sheet (15 x 10) with foil and liberally grease the foil with cooking spray.

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Unroll the crescent rolls into one single piece of dough and pinch any perforations together to seal.

Stretch the dough out to fit the size of the pan with your hands so it’s even. Prick the dough with a fork all over. Set aside.
Meanwhile, cook bacon till lighter in color and not quite crispy. Drain the bacon on paper towels.
Drizzle 1/4 cup of the maple syrup over the crescent roll dough. Sprinkle with about 1/4 cup of the
brown sugar. Top with the torn pieces of cooked bacon.

Drizzle the remaining maple syrup on top of the bacon pieces, and top with the remaining brown sugar.
Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until bubbling and caramelized.
Remove from the oven and allow the pan to come to room temperature.

Cool completely before cutting into pieces.

I was going to be entertaining some friends and this recipe sounded like something that would be
perfect for the occasion. I’d run across the recipe on the internet at the getinmybelly.com web-site.

The recipe sounded simple and delicious; and with bacon as a main ingredient how could I go wrong.
The night before the get together I cooked the bacon till almost crisp and patted all of the grease off
with a paper towel. Once completely cooled I stored the bacon in the refrigerator.

Since this appetizer/dessert is supposed to be served at room temperature I got busy first thing the
next morning. I got the bacon out of the refrigerator and chopped it up into small pieces then opened
the crescent roll dough (I used the solid piece of dough, not the ones perforated kind). After lining a
baking sheet with foil I sprayed it really well with non-stick spray. I placed the dough on the pan and
patted it, stretching the dough till it covered the whole pan. After pricking the dough with a fork I
poured half the maple syrup over it and used a pastry brush to spread it evenly. I sprinkled on 1/4
cup of the brown sugar and then topped that with the bacon.

The maple syrup and bacon smelled so good; I could just envision how wonderful these things were
going to taste.

I drizzled the rest of the maple syrup over the bacon and the added the remaining brown sugar.
It seemed like a lot of brown sugar, but hey, I was following the recipe directions.

The maple bacon crack went into the oven for 25 minutes and when the timer sounded I removed the
pan from the oven so it could cool. After several hours of sitting on the counter cooling, I was ready
to cut this appetizer, oh wait or is it dessert, I wasn’t sure which it was but it smelled delicious.

As I began removing the pieces of maple bacon crack from the foil, a lot of the pieces were sticking
pretty bad to the foil. It appeared that the maple syrup soaked right through the dough and the non-
stick cooking spray didn’t work. Once I got all of the pieces off of the foil and onto a pretty platter
Brad walked into the kitchen and I told him we had to give this a try. Since bacon is one of his
favorite things I didn’t have to twist his arm.

We split a piece and popped a bite into our mouths and immediately looked at each other. My eyes
were side when I said “these things aren’t right; they are way to sweet and the majority of the pieces
basically have no crust to support the topping” (since the crust had soaked up the syrup).

I decided right then that there was no way I was serving these things to my friends. I’m a sweetaholic
and they were just over the top sweet and I was so disappointed. When I read the recipe I just knew
they would be the greatest things ever and I was hoping I would have a simple appetizer recipe for
my get together and for Christmas.

Unfortunately this recipe falls into the Failed It category. These bars might be good if you used about
half of the maple syrup and maybe half of the brown sugar. But the way the recipe is written – no
way. Not even for someone like me who loves sweets. The worst part was a pound of bacon was
wasted in the process.