Ménage à Trois

When I began planning for this year's Bacon Party, I knew I'd be making the bacon vodka recipe that McAuliflower posted over at Brownie Points, but inspiration really hit when I read her Magic Shell recipe, in which she suggests making Magic Shell flavored with bacon. That was enough for me! The thought of three of my favorite fats (butterfat, bacon fat, and coconut oil) making sweet love on my tongue simultaneously just about made my pants explode. I was in.

Bacon Magic Shell

100g bar of eating chocolate
4 tbsp virgin coconut oil (see note below)
3 strips thick-cut bacon
1 tbsp maple syrup (if using white chocolate)
pinch of salt


First, a note about the coconut oil. In her recipe, McAuliflower calls for refined coconut oil, as virgin coconut oil has a more pronounced flavor. Unfortunately, my local hippie supermaket only had virgin oil in stock. I figured the stronger coconut flavor wouldn't blow the end result, and I was right. I'd like to try the recipe again with refined oil, though, for comparison's sake.

Okay, so the first order of business was to start the bacon frying while gently melting the coconut oil over low heat.


Mmm...bacon. After frying, I blotted the excess fat off the bacon with my tongue a paper towel and put a slice and a half into the warm coconut oil and left it over low heat for about fifteen minutes, then set it aside to cool.


I ended up making three kinds of Magic Shell: one milk chocolate with bacon, one maple-flavored white chocolate with bacon, and one dark chocolate with peppermint extract and no bacon. I had toyed with the idea of making the third with dark chocolate, red pepper flakes, and bacon, but then I remembered that I had some peppermint extract, and I do so love the dark chocolate with peppermint, so that was that.

The milk chocolate was first. I warmed four tablespoons of the bacon-flavored coconut oil over low heat, than added the milk chocolate bar, broken into small pieces, and stirred until the oil and chocolate blended. I tossed in a strip and a half of finely diced cooked bacon and a pinch of salt, then set it aside to cool. Easy.

The white chocolate was next. Again, I warmed four tablespoons of the bacon-y oil and added the chocolate, but the addition of the maple syrup complicated matters a bit. I didn't want to go overboard with it, fearing that too much would cause the Magic Shell to be too gooey, but I wanted to make sure I used enough to impart a noticeable maple flavor. Adding it gradually, I ended up using about a tablespoon of maple syrup, and found that it affected the crispness of the Magic Shell only slightly. Again, I tossed in salt and finely diced cooked bacon at the end and set it aside to cool.

When it came time to taste my results, I warmed both types of Bacon Magic Shell in a cup of hot water, then drizzled them both over some vanilla ice cream. The verdict: obscenely delicious. The little bits of bacon added nice texture to the crunchy goodness of the shell, and both textures against the cool smoothness of the ice cream made for a terrific mouth feel.

And the flavor? Oh, my head. Smoky, salty, creamy, sweet heaven.


So go stuff your face, baby.