The foodie mom, deconstructed!: Chocolate bacon cupcakes, deconstructed!

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Chocolate bacon cupcakes, deconstructed!

There is nothing like the taste or smell of bacon! Combine bacon with chocolate and you have a decadent treat.

This dessert is not only easy to make, it is a delicious, crowd pleasing treat. If you are not baking for a crowd, simply freeze the cupcakes without frosting, and thaw as needed.

Since any type of frosting may be used, you can quickly make this recipe your own. For a more intense chocolate flavor, add chocolate syrup, melted chocolate, or any chocolate hazelnut spread!

Chocolate bacon cupcakes
12 slices bacon, fried, drained and crumbled

2 c. flour

¾ c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. white sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. kosher salt

2 large eggs

1 c. brewed coffee

1 c. buttermilk

½ c. vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla

Cake frosting

Cocoa for dusting

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line or grease the cups of a 12-piece muffin tin. Set aside.

Assemble all the dry ingredients and combine well in a bowl, using a whisk. In a separate bowl, mix all the wet ingredients until well-blended. Add to the dry ingredients and stir. Mix in about about three-fourths of the bacon crumbles. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin.

Bake 20-25 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool. Frost with your choice of frosting. Garnish with crumbled bacon and/or a dusting of cocoa powder.

Chocolate bacon cupcakes, deconstructed

12 slices bacon, fried, drained, and crumbled

>Fat alert: Bacon is high in fat. If fat is a dietary concern, the fat may be carefully blotted off the cooked bacon or the amount of bacon used may be reduced. In the alternative, try turkey bacon or precooked, reduced fat or fat-free bacon crumbles.

2 c. flour

>Health alert: If gluten is a dietary issue, use a gluten-free flour, such as King Arthur’s or Cup4Cup. Both work well as a replacement for white flour in baking. In the alternative, use King Arthur's gluten-free chocolate cake mix and follow the instructions, simply adding bacon to the batter.

>Ingredient alert: If you choose to use a gluten-free cake mix, check the product ingredients carefully. Some contain significant amounts of sugar, salt, fat, and other offensive ingredients.

¾ c. unsweetened cocoa powder

>Health alert: Cocoa powder can pack a caffeine punch. If this is a dietary concern, try an organic, low caffeine, cocoa substitute, such as Cocoa Via.

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. white sugar

>Health alert: If sugar is a dietary concern, it may be replaced with any sugar substitute, such as Stevia in the Raw or Splenda brown sugar blend.

>Ingredient alert: The use of a sugar substitute may affect the texture of the cupcake. It may be necessary to add more of a leavening agent, such as baking powder or eggs. For best results, substitute only half of the sugar with a sugar substitute.

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. kosher salt

2 large eggs

>Health alert: If eggs are a dietary concern, egg whites or an egg substitute may be used.

1 c. brewed coffee

>Health alert: Coffee contains caffeine. If this is a dietary concern, try a reduced or caffeine-free coffee.

1 c. buttermilk

>Fat alert: The essence of buttermilk is fat. If this is a dietary concern, substitute part or all of the buttermilk with a reduced or no-fat Half & Half or milk.

>Health alert: If dairy is a dietary concern, try using almond milk or a non-dairy Half & Half instead.

½ c. vegetable oil

>Fat alert: Vegetable oil is fat. If this a dietary concern, try substituting the same amount of pureed prunes or white beans.

1 tsp. vanilla

Cake frosting

Cocoa for dusting

(Follow the instructions above.)

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My mission...

It's official! Home-cooked meals can extend your life up to 20 years. The trick, however, is to cook foods that are good for you!

In the past year, I have been on a mission to lower the fat and sugar in my family’s meals. My experimentation with substitute ingredients has not always been successful, and sometimes, the results have been downright awful! Throughout it all, I have learned a valuable lesson: Sometimes, there just is no substitute for the real thing!

During the Cold War and the implementation of the space program, many foods and ingredients were reduced to powder. (Remember Tang?) Add water, shake, and you have a form of sustenance. And while those products may have indeed allowed us to survive while hunkered down in a fall-out shelter during a nuclear attack, or during a trip into space, many clearly could not be used during normal times as substitute ingredients. They just tasted incredibly bad, and pretty much ruined the recipes I tried to incorporate them into!

Of course, at the core of my research were sugar substitutes. I quickly learned that sugar provides a unique and satisfying texture to many baked goods. Some of the sugar substitutes simply did not. Quite a few baked desserts wound up in the trash can! But when used in other ways, for example, in soups or sauces, sugar substitutes offered more positive results.

While I played in my kitchen laboratory, that old mantra, “It’s about portion size, stupid!” kept playing in my head! It was dismissed when I realized that sometimes, I simply want to indulge! I cannot, and will not, deny my love for French Silk pie, Pain au chocolat, and other luscious desserts and pastries!, Do I have the willpower to limit portion size? Sure. But when I indulge in my gastronomic pleasures, I don’t want to think about portion size, calories, or fat or sugar content. I just want to enjoy.

I am convinced I can sacrifice fat or sugar in other dishes to make up for the damage inflicted by my ultimate pleasures. So I began to deconstruct my recipes: Identifying ingredients that may be of concern, and finding acceptable alternatives. While this is not a new approach, it ties into my belief that good cooks experiment! Ultimately, however, it is up to you to determine what tastes good, and what flavors and ingredients are unnecessary. No two palates are the same. When deconstructing recipes, I followed three basic tenets: Food must taste good. Food must look good. And food must never have the texture of dog food!

The best approach to following my recipes? Begin by trying the original. That will allow you to clearly evaluate the impact of suggested substitutions. I welcome your reactions and suggestions when trying substitutions I have suggested. My only request is that you actually try the alternative, and report the results, good or bad!

Who is the Foodie Mom?

Jane Kaiser has been cooking for her family since she was 10, when she was shipped off to a cooking class after she politely declined her mother's offer of charm school. She refined those skills while cooking and entertaining for her family, and worshiping at the altar of the Food Network.

In another life, Jane was an attorney and journalist. She has provided writing services to a wide range of organizations, including law firms, accounting firms, healthcare and insurance organizations, Fortune 500 corporations, and civic/trade organizations.

She is the author of a book on public relations and marketing, and has also written for such publications as the Minneapolis Star, the Kenosha News, Twin Cities Magazine, Virginia Lawyers Weekly,Illinois Legal Times, Wisconsin Opinions and the Wisconsin Law Journal.

Jane holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in journalism and education from the University of Minnesota, and a law degree from St. Louis University.