Bacon Praline Pecan Butter Tarts

 I've been craving these for a while now......

Bacon and pecans just seemed like such a good mix of flavors.

I used this recipe from the Joy of Baking for pecan butter tarts and added my own flair with some candied bacon bits. Here's how I did it.

I lightly buttered a piece of parchment paper and placed it onto a cookie sheet. Get this ready before you make the bacon praline because there won't be time to do it after.

 I diced up some regular bacon and fried it until it was crisp. I soaked up all the bacon fat by placing the cooked bacon onto a few folded up paper towels and then blotted the rest of the fat away by patting with another paper towel.

 I made some caramel by adding some sugar and a wee bit of water to a pot and boiling it until it dissolved and then started to turn light brown. Watch the cooking sugar closely and turn the heat off the instant it starts to turn colour.

 As soon as it turned colour I speedy quick added the reserved bacon bits. I carefully swirled them around to coat them in the sugar.

 Next I added a tsp of good vanilla and stirred it in.

 Work quickly and carefully, this is molten sugar we're dealing with folks. It causes some pretty nasty burns if you don't respect it. Pour the bacon sugar mix onto the buttered parchment and smooth it out so the bacon bits are separated. Let these guys cool off for at least a half hour before you try one.

 I made my dough following the recipe from the joy of baking.

 I made my butter tart filling using the same joy of baking recipe.

 I reserved 24 half pecans for the tops of my tarts and chopped up some pecans to go in my tarts.

 I also chopped up half of my bacon praline.

 I added about a tsp of pecan and bacon praline to each of the tart shells.

 I filled the tart shells with the butter tart filling and baked them up.

 Butter tarts are magical. They rise up while they bake and fall back down when you take them out of the oven. Check to make sure the tart shells are all golden brown before you take them out of the oven.

I finished up each tart by adding a half pecan and a chunk of praline bacon to the top of each tart. 

These guys are pretty yummy. I was expecting the sugar coating to keep the bacon crisp inside the tart. That didn't happen but it wasn't a failure..... as a matter of fact I think it worked out better that way. The pecan bits gave the right amount of crunch and the bacon gave a familiar salty flavour that I think makes the butter tarts more satisfying.

I think we have a pretty successful new recipe here. What do you think? Will you try it?