Let me reject the notion of New Years Resolutions for a minute here and talk about Baileys, bacon, chocolate, marshmallow and caramel.

I know, you’re all about salads right now.  Too many shortbreads over the holidays; too much butter, too many turkeys.

But this is Baileys, bacon, chocolate, marshmallow and caramel.  All in the same bite.

I know that you, like me, won’t be able to resist making this.  If anything, it’s just about tasting this unusual mash-up of favourites blended together into an awesome dessert, just to say you did.  This is the kind of food you stand in front of the open fridge in your flannels digging into with your fingers.  Not that I would do that kind of thing…

Here’s what you need:

Main square –

16 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

4 cups mini marshmallows

1/4 cup Baileys Irish Cream liquor

1 cup caramel (ingredients below)

1 cup bacon crumble (ingredients below)

Caramel ingredients –

1 cup white sugar

4 tbsp. water

4 tbsp. butter

7 tbsp. heavy cream

Bacon crumble ingredients –

16 oz. bacon

1/4 cup sugar

4 tbsp water

1 egg white

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/8 tsp. cayenne

Here’s what you do:

Bacon Crumble

Cook bacon in a frying pan until nice and crispy and set aside to cool completely.  Once it’s cool, crumble the bacon into coarse chunks.

Preheat your oven to 300 F.

Place sugar and water in a pot and heat on the stove until the sugar is dissolved.  Toss the crumbled bacon in the syrup to coat, and then strain of the excess syrup.

In a bowl, whisk the egg white until fluffy and foamy.  Throw in the pepper and cayenne, whisk to combine and add in the bacon, tossing to coat the bacon in the egg white mixture.

Spread the bacon on a parchment-lined sheet to bake for 30 minutes.  As a note:  my bacon wasn’t fatty enough after cooking to keep it from sticking to the parchment, so I would recommend spreading the parchment with a thin coat of butter first.  After removing from the oven, let it cool, and crumble again.

Melt the butter in the microwave and whisk in the cream.  Set aside.  Add sugar and water into a saucepan over medium low heat and stir until sugar has dissolved. Once sugar has dissolved increase heat to high. Now and then, using the handle, give the pot a swirl to keep the mixture moving (don’t stir it directly). The mixture will start to bubble and then darken to a medium amber colour after approximately 5-7 minutes.  At this point, add the butter and heavy cream to saucepan.  I’m going to stop you right there:  if you’ve never made caramel before, here’s some tips from the girl with the scalded fingertips and hard lump of toffee in a pot of cream.  Add the cream and butter veeeerrrrryyy slowly, whisking constantly while adding.  The mixture will bubble and steam like crazy when you add the cream, so go easy.  Take ‘er cool, as they say.  Once the mixture starts to cool and the cream begins to incorporate, it will just become nice and caramel-y:  no scary steam and bubbles.  Set aside to cool.

Main square

Line an 8 x 8 pan with parchment paper.

Place chocolate in a double boiler (or make your own with a bowl set over a pot of water on the stove) and heat on low until the chocolate is melted.  Pour half of the chocolate in your prepared pan, smooth with a spoon or spatula and place in the freezer to harden.