Candied Whisky Bacon Grilled Cheese Dippers
Servings
Prep Time
Cook Time
Ready In
Recipe: #24115
June 18, 2016
Categories: Lunch, Pork, Dairy, Alcohol, Appetizers, Italian, Mexican, North American, Cinco de Mayo, Entertaining, Ladies Luncheon, Oven Roast, Stove Top, No Eggs, Processed Cheese, Spicy, Sandwiches more
"Found this morning @ thecookierookiedotcom on a 1st visit to her site, food blogger Becky Hardin definitely amazed me w/this recipe for the ultimate adult comfort food plus another recipe for a bite-sized, easy-fix & creative appy I'll enter next. I can hardly wait to browse the rest of her recipes for more treasures! Altho described as the perfect appy for a NY Eve party, IMHO it also works well for a luncheon entree, a starter course for a dinner party or even a Cinco de Mayo celebration. My best bet is we're all going to ENJOY this comfort food to-the-max!"
Ingredients
Nutritional
- Serving Size: 1 (110.8 g)
- Calories 399.5
- Total Fat - 18 g
- Saturated Fat - 7.8 g
- Cholesterol - 48.7 mg
- Sodium - 654.9 mg
- Total Carbohydrate - 37 g
- Dietary Fiber - 0.1 g
- Sugars - 36 g
- Protein - 15.5 g
- Calcium - 178.5 mg
- Iron - 0.5 mg
- Vitamin C - 0.2 mg
- Thiamin - 0.1 mg
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350F. While the oven is heating, mix the whiskey (or bourbon) w/1 cup brown sugar & the cayenne pepper in a sml saucepan over med-high heat. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil & then reduce to a simmer for 10 min. Remove from heat & set aside.
Step 2
Place ea strip of bacon directly on a baking sheet, allowing a bit of space between them. This is a video about oven-baking bacon w/tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr4Zv840kys. Brush both sides of the bacon w/the whiskey reduction & then sprinkle the top w/the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar.
Step 3
Place bacon in the oven & cook for 20 min, ck'ing after 12 min. Ovens vary, so you want to be sure the bacon doesn't burn. (Becky Hardin said hers took the full 20 min.
Step 4
Take bacon out of the oven & allow to sit on a paper towel to cool & drain.
Step 5
When ready to make your grilled cheese, heat a lrg skillet over med-high heat.
Step 6
Butter 1 side of ea slice of bread. Lightly sprinkle ea buttered side w/garlic powder.
Step 7
Place ea slice of bread onto the hot skillet, butter side down. Add 1 slice of cheddar cheese & 1 slice of mozzarella to each slice of bread & allow to melt while bread toasts. Cook ea slice of bread for approx 2 min or until the outside is fully toasted & browned to your liking.
Step 8
Place 2 slices of bacon onto 4 pieces of the bread, side-by-side. Top w/the remaining 4 slices of bread = 4 cheesy sandwiches. Sprinkle ea hot sandwich w/a little shredded cheddar (optional). Cut ea sandwich in half (between the bacon slices) to create 8 dippers.
Step 9
SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Yield is 8 dippers, so as a lunch item, serve 2 dippers per person w/a bowl of tomato soup. As an appy or starter course, serve 1 dipper per person w/a sml dish of tomato soup or marinara sauce. If having a Mexican or Tex-Mex meal & you need an appy or starter course for it, try serving 1 dipper per person w/a sml dish of salsa or guacamole.
Step 10
COMMENTS FROM ME: I haven't made this recipe yet, but 2 things occur to me: 1) The amt of whisky (or bourbon) & the amt of brown sugar seem to exceed the need for just 8 slices of bacon, so expect leftovers or adjust as you see fit ... 2) Re the optional topping of extra cheddar cheese - Frankly, we're already on "cheese-overload" by the time we get to that option, so I'd be skipping it w/o hesitation.
Tips & Variations
- No special items are required