Candied Bacon Chocolate Spoons

When I started making cookies, I bought a few cookie cutters. Then a few more. Then LOTS more. It's gotten to the point where I'm having trouble keeping track of all my cookie cutters.

Then came cupcake and cake making. I bought a few sprinkles, then a few more. Now I have an endless supply of sprinkles. Whenever I'm at a baking store though, I am still checking out sprinkles to see if I can add anything to my collection. I'm nuts, right?!

Now comes chocolate making. I became interested in making my own chocolate bars after going to my first chocolate tasting class here in Vancouver. Soon after, we went to France and Italy. It was in Tuscany that I visited the Amedei factory and bought their award winning chocolate. Before leaving France, I bought my first chocolate molds. When I came back home to Canada, I bought some more. I'm probably at about a dozen different molds now! I'm always on the lookout for more molds I can use for chocolate. I'm sure it won't be too hard for me to grow this collection too. Lol.

A month or so ago, my Mother-in-Law in France sent me a couple of new chocolate molds. I was so excited! I didn't have an excuse to make chocolate then but now I do. Well, sort of. Our friend from California is visiting us this weekend and I wanted to make her a chocolate gift. That's a good enough reason, right? :)

Remember my new obsession with candied bacon? This month may be grilled cheese month but it mind as well be candied bacon month as well. I just can't stop with this stuff! The crazy thing is that it's so simple to make as well. Buy bacon, sprinkle with brown sugar, and bake. Done!

Candied bacon.

I used to think bacon chocolate was yucky but once I tried it for the first time at my chocolate tasting, I actually loved it. Now that I have made candied bacon, it was time to finally try making my own bacon chocolate. I took extra care in baking my bacon this time. I wanted them crispy and dry as possible. I started baking them for about 8-10 minutes first. Then I poured out the fat. Before putting it back into the oven, I sprinkled on some brown sugar. Then I baked them some more. I poured out more fat at the end and then drained them on paper towels. I also manually dabbed each piece of bacon with paper towel to remove as much grease as possible. When they were as dry as possible, I cut them as small as I could with a big strong knife. My bacon bits were then ready to use as toppings for my chocolate spoons :)

Tempering chocolate.

My 4yo at work.

60% dark chocolate sprinkled with candied bacon bits and gold candy.

Packaged chocolate spoon gifts.

It was a big chocolate making day. My 4yo decorated spoons for his little cousins. I also went ahead and made mini candied bacon chocolate bars. Why the heck not, right? The mini tablette bar mold was also new from France. I used candy wrap on a few of them and made my own wrapping paper out of card stock. I chose a simple design since they were so mini. They weren't perfect but they were still adorable :) These individually wrapped chocolates are all for my friend! She may just hate me though since she's watching her weight too. Ahem. I barely see her and I want her to try these so does that make me an evil friend? Sorry.

DIY wrapping using designed stock paper and glue.

Mini candied bacon dark chocolate bars.