Brownies and Bacon, Bacon and Brownies

I have a number of favourite things in my life.

I would say cheese is quite high on the list. I also like brownies lots. And bacon.

Imagine my joy when i stumbled across a recipe for.... bacon cheesecake brownies!

Bacon, and cheese, all mixed up in brownie dreamy goodness. So this weekend gone, Boyf and I made brownies. Half a batch of walnut and cherry, half a batch of bacon cheesecake.

So I used Nigella's divine brownie recipe, added some crispy bacon goodness, then made some cheesecake mix using cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla, which was then expertly applied to the brownie mix.

Bacony brownie mixture!

The result- to be honest, I'm not hugely sure. I kind of expedted a "Oh my! bacon! and brownie!" kind of taste explosion in my mouth when eating, but instead its more of a pleasant, sedate, "oh, I have encountered a little bit of bacon in my brownie" kind of a feel. I definitely, definitely approve of the added cheesecakey-ness. The saltiness of the bacon combined with rich chocolateyness reminds me a bit of the chocolate salty cake that I tried at the Clandestine Cake Club Newcastle, but i think that had a bit more impact than these brownies. I wonder whether using pancetta might work better- i used unsmoked bacon, but i actually think a nice smoky flavour would work quite nicely with chocolate.

Action pouring shot!

The reception has been mixed. Boyf was left unimpressed, I was a mixture of gently pleased and mildly disappointed. I was sat at mu desk today when two colleagues from another office appeared with excited faces saying "bacon? brownies?!" repeatedly, and they seemed to quite enjoy the concept. There was also some disgust, and some moderate intrigue but wariness from other parties.

The next brownie adventure i want to try will involve chilli, i suspect.