Candied Bacon Buns With Maple Glaze
There’s just something about cinnamon rolls. Their warm, gooey centers, filled with the buttery spice of their namesake, sweet icing melting off the tops of the rolls to be licked off of your fingers, it’s everything you could need in a breakfast (or dessert, or brunch, or snack…). We’ve already established the Beard’s dislike for overly sweet things in an earlier post, so I wanted to make something that would satisfy my sweet tooth and his fondness for everyone’s favorite all-purpose meat: BACON. I knew from the start that cinnamon rolls with bacon were nothing new; there’s an imperial pants-load of recipes available out there on Pinterest. However, I still wanted to give them a try. Consequently, candied bacon buns were made one recent Sunday afternoon.
Baking Experiments
Before I started doing my weekly baking experiments, I had no idea how long of a process making a basic cinnamon roll recipe was. I had assumed that they were related to muffins somehow, just whip up a batter and viola, rolls. I don’t know why I drew this conclusion, probably because of my belief that muffins are just cupcakes that think they’re healthy, or that anything with frosting must be inherently dessert-related. Instead, I discovered with my first attempt that they’re actually bread – they are called cinnamon rolls, after all. My desire for the instant gratification of a plate of freshly baked peanut butter and jelly rolls was thwarted, because the process takes about 5 hours. Mix it, knead it, let it sit. Knead it, roll it out, roll it up, and let it sit. It’s an afternoon lesson in patience.
Those first PBJ rolls also weren’t very good, with barely any flavor to them, and I got strawberry all over myself and the counter. Still, I wanted to try again, and I told the Beard my plans one night while we were getting ready for bed. “There’s a pack of bacon in the freezer, you can use that.”
Bacon Eperiments
There’s a snack counter in our area that sells strips of crispy bacon, candied with some sort of sugar, and a sprinkling of black pepper on them, and those were the inspiration for the filling in these “cinnamon-less buns”. I wanted that combination of savory-sweet-spice that we could buy for $0.99 a strip, but I wanted the gooey sweetness you get with from the filling and icing of the traditional cinnamon bun, and these bacon buns were the end result.
The inside of the bacon buns are filled with crispy bacon, brown sugar, and just a bit of black pepper to make things pop a bit. Between all that brown sugar and the butter brushed on the dough, the insides make a sticky filling the pairs perfectly with the bacon. The tops of the buns get golden brown, and the insides stay perfectly fluffy and soft. On the bottom, you get a smattering of bacon flavor from the dripping leftover from frying the bacon.
And what type of roll would it be without a sweet topper? The final touch to these is a slight twist on the typical cinnamon roll icing. I made a simple maple glaze to lightly drizzle on top of the buns, which is, I’ve got to say, the perfect finish to these, lending just enough sweetness without being too cloyingly sweet.
If you’ve got an afternoon to spare, you can make up a bunch of candied bacon buns. The recipe is pretty straightforward, and they keep well in an airtight container in your fridge. They make a great breakfast – or dessert!
Candied Bacon Buns with Maple Glaze
Yes, bacon buns have been done before, but here's my own spin on them. Inspired by bacon candied with brown sugar and a touch of pepper, these buns are a little bit sweet, a little bit savory, and a whole lot of goodness.
Ingredients
Bacon Buns Dough
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- ½ cup + 1 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp sea salt salt
- 1/4 cup almond milk I used vanilla
- 1 large egg, + 1 additional egg yolk
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 4 ½ - 5 cups flour plus more for dusting
- 1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 3/4 lb bacon
- 2 tbsps butter melted
Maple Glaze
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsps maple syrup
Instructions
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Mix water, yeast, and 1 tbsp of the sugar in a large bowl. You want the water to be between 90-95 degrees, any warmer and you could kill your yeast, and cooler water won't make it bloom. Allow the mixture to proof for 5 minutes, it should get nice and bubbly. After the yeast mixture proofs, add the remaining sugar and the salt and stir to mix well.
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Combine the milk, oil, egg, and extra yolk in a small bowl, beating the eggs and mixing well, then add to the yeast mixture in the larger bowl and mix well.
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Add two cups of the flour to the large bowl and stir to combine with the yeast mixture. Continue to add more flour, ½-cup at a time, until the dough has come together and is slightly sticky. Knead the dough by hand for about 5 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic.
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Put the dough into an oiled bowl; you can spray a bowl with cooking spray, or add about 1 tbsp of oil to your bowl and roll the dough to coat it in oil. Cover the dough bowl with plastic wrap or a towel, set in a warm place, and allow it to rise until it has doubled in size, roughly two hours.
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While your dough is rising, cook your bacon using whatever method you prefer, saving 2 tbsps of the bacon grease. Drain the bacon on a paper-towel covered plate and allow it to cool before crumbling it.
Bacon Buns
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Flour a large surface to roll out the dough, lightly flouring your rolling pin and hands. You want a rectangle that measure about 12" by 18" and is about ¼"-1/2" thick. Keep the longest side of the dough closest to you.
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Brush the dough rectangle with the melted butter, coating the dough from edge to edge. Sprinkle ALL the brown sugar across the buttered dough and pat it into the melted butter. Evenly sprinkle the crumbled bacon over the brown sugar, then sprinkle with the black pepper.
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Starting with the longest side of the dough that's closest to you, roll the dough into a tight spiral, with the bacon and brown sugar on the inside. If the ends are very uneven, trim them to make them even. Cut the roll in half, then in half again, giving you four smaller dough rolls. Cut each of those rolls into three even rolls. You should now have 12 bacon buns, plus two uneven ones that you can either throw out or bake with the larger buns.
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Grease up your pan with the reserved bacon pan drippings. Arrange your rolls, evenly spacing them in your pan. A 9" x 13" baking pan works well, as does a cast iron frying pan. Cover the rolls with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm spot for another 2 hours, they'll get huge and fill the pan.
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Preheat your oven to 350 and bake your rolls for about 20-25 minutes, until they are browned and have cooked through. Allow to cook for 10 minutes before glazing.
Glaze & Finish the Buns
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Thoroughly mix the maple syrup and the powdered sugar until it combines to make a glaze. You're not looking for a frosting, but you don't want it freely flowing like your maple syrup did. You're looking for something in between.
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Drizzle your maple glaze over the warm buns.
Recipe Notes
Keep the buns in a zipper-type freezer bag or an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week. For best taste, heat your bacon bun for 20 seconds in the microwave if you're eating the leftovers.
The Tart likes to eat, cook, and bake things. She eats to work out, and she works out to be able to eat.
