Mmmm.... Bacon

This past weekend Mr. Jansson and I went to his aunt and uncle's annual wine tasting party. (So much fun!) I wanted to bring an appetizer and after a not so successful first attempt, Mr. Jansson suggested I change courses completely and try to my hand at fixing candied bacon.

I gave it a shot (it was super easy) and it ended up being a pretty big hit! It turns out salty, smokey, sweet and hot all at the same time - very addictive. Here's what you do:

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
• Measure out 1 cup of tightly packed brown sugar and pour it out onto a plate
• Add 3/4 tbs of cayenne pepper to the brown sugar and stir to incorporate
• Cover two cookie sheets with aluminum foil
• Slice by slice dredge 1 pound of bacon in the sugar/pepper mixture and place it on the foil lined cookie sheets
• If you have leftover sugar/pepper add it to the top of the bacon slices so they are well coated
• Cook for 15 minutes or until the bacon is done
• When you take the sheets out of the oven there will be alot of smoke - that's ok (it's just the sugar burning off) just open a window or two and turn on the fan
• Quickly remove each slice from the pan and let them cool on a rack before cutting in half and arranging on your serving tray
• Enjoy!