Chocolate-Covered Bacon Gelato

Ok, you all know how much we love our bacon & think it is perfect for every course including dessert (see our Dark Chocolate & Bacon Cupcakes). Since we got an ice cream maker for Christmas the idea of bacon in ice cream has been running through my head. I decided that coating the bacon in chocolate would only make it better.

I was worried the bacon might get soft in the gelato but it remained really crispy. Use the best bacon you can here (we used Nueske's) & one that isn't cut too thin. The flavor of the bacon is the salty star here making this truly a dessert for the bacon lover. I almost wished for a little more chocolate flavor so if I were making this again I might add a handful of chocolate pieces into the mix as well.

We have a few other ideas for flavors around this like a maple flavored gelato with chocolate covered bacon or a honey sweetened gelato with bacon & figs in it that I'm looking forward to trying too.

Chocolate Covered Bacon Gelato
(Gelato recipe from The Ice Cream Bible. We really like this recipe for vanilla gelato & usually make it in place of vanilla ice cream so it became the vehicle for the chocolate bacon addition.)

1 c bacon, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 - 2 oz semisweet chocolate
1 vanilla bean
2 c milk
1 c heavy cream
3/4 c sugar

Cook the bacon pieces until crisp. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon to paper towel to drain away the fat. Let the bacon cool to room temp or put in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Cut the chocolate into small pieces & place in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for one minute. Stir until completely melted. Add the bacon & still until coated. Coat a baking sheet with wax paper. Remove the pieces of chocolate one at a time to the wax paper. (Yeah, you'll get chocolate on your fingers, consider it a snack.) Place into the freezer & let the chocolate set. If not using right away remove the bacon from the wax paper & put into a ziplock bag or plastic container & keep frozen until ready to use.

Split the vanilla bean in half & scrape the beans into a medium sauce pan. Put the rest of the bean, milk, cream & sugar in the saucepan as well. Heat over medium-low until the sugar melts. Strain into another container (mainly your removing the vanilla beans) & chill until completely cold.

Process the gelato mixture according to your ice cream maker's directions. In the last 5 minutes add the chocolate covered bacon in order to mix in.

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