I am submitting this recipe for Candied Bacon And Pickled Pumpkin Muffins to Meeta’s Monthly Mingle, which is being hosted this month by Cookin’ Canuck
Many years ago, BAR came to South Africa to do their winter testing. They reckoned that the warm South African summer would be a good testing ground for the upcoming Formula 1 season where many races would be held in sweltering heat. As Dave is friendly with Alistair Gibson, who was the chief mechanic for BAR, I was able to have access to the pits during a day of testing. I spent time on the pit wall watching the proceedings and while I was doing so, Jacques Villeneuve came and joined me. We had a conversation and he took my peak off my head and signed it. This was not of much consequence to me, but it certainly was to the crew from the local TV station and the whole incident was filmed, and played in the morning news section the following day.
This memory led me to thinking about my Canadian maple syrup. I am really all about using regional products, but some items are just not produced here. Maple syrup is one of them. I can digest maple syrup and so I compromise a bit and use it – albeit sparingly as it is fairly expensive. I had an idea to make candied bacon after reading about it in my Miss Melicious recipe book. I decided to use her recipe as inspiration and used the maple syrup instead of sugar as I know fructose will probably burn. Once I had the maple syrup in mind, I travelled to North America, where pumpkin is used in desserts. I was given a bottle of pickled pumpkin by Nora from Delheim Wine Estate and I wanted to make sure I used them in something special, as well as something that could be sold in their restaurant. Muffins seemed like a good choice and they were really tasty.
Have you ever been on television?
Candied Bacon And Pickled Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- 4 rashers back bacon
- 15 mls maple syrup
- 250 mls flour
- 60 mls fructose
- 10 mls baking powder
- 1.25 mls salt
- 250 mls pickled pumpkin
- 250 mls milk
- 1 egg
- 65 g butter
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200° Celsius
- Line a baking tray with a silpat or tin foil
- Place the bacon on the tray and brush on the maple syrup
- Reserve any left over syrup
- Bake the bacon for 15 minutes and chop finely once cool
- In the meantime, mix together the flour, fructose, baking powder and salt
- Mix in the pumpkin and the bacon
- Pour the milk into a bowl, add the egg, and whisk it in
- Melt the butter and add to the milk mixture and whisk in
- Add the remaining maple syrup
- Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture
- Use a fork to mix together until just combined
- Spoon the mixture into a prepared muffin tin
- Bake for 20 minutes
- Remove from the tin, and leave the muffins to cool on a wire rack
Notes
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
What I blogged:
- one year ago – coppa and courgette pasta with exotic mushrooms
These sound fabulous Tandy and how nice that you can digest maple syrup.
I was on TV in my younger years, in an advert with Clive Scott and an Edgars make-up ad and something else or another that I cannot remember.
🙂 Mandy xo
how much fun to do adverts!
I’ve never been on TV, probabaly never will 🙂
*hugs*
{hugs} to you too 🙂
I’ve been on t.v. – the news – briefly, when I lived on a houseboat in Kingston Upon Thames. The local council were threatening to move us “water gypsies” (their name) on and disband the moorings that had been there for hundreds of years. We were seen as an eyesore on the river (local colour, we preferred to think of ourselves as). Anyway, we resisted and took the fight to the local media to drum up support. I was featured, along with my neighbour, talking about what it was like to live on a boat. The moorings was ultimately disbanded, but they gave us another moorings further upriver. We eventually left after some 5 years or so.
I can remember watching this on the news! I think the houseboats are amazing 🙂
This sounds like a really interesting combination of flavors. I’ve never had pickled pumpkin. What’s the flavor like?
This is a sweet pickled pumpkin with cloves! I am going to serve the rest alongside a curry 🙂
Tandy!!! From a pit stop to North America!! That must have been an exciting time for you! Love your recipe.. Maple syrup is expensive here too.. must be the process for getting it from our trees.. it takes a long time! xxx Smidge in Canada xxx
I am amazed that the maple syrup is expensive there – I would have thought we were paying for the air miles 🙂
No, I’ve never been on TV, thank goodness. I would hate to show up on TV news, unless It was for doing something really good. 🙂 Those muffins sound really tasty.
We shall hold thumbs you never get caught by SABC then 😉
You had me at candied bacon!
which is a condiment in our house!
Delicious…candied bacon. Sweet and salty yum!
It is exactly that!
i just made pumpkin cupcakes today so my husband could take them for his colleagues tomorrow. but now, i think i should have waited coz the idea of using candied bacon sounds brilliant! 😀
well, a good excuse to make some more 🙂
Nope never been on TV, but my mum was once, she was on a competiton show called Name that Tune.
I recognize the name of that show 🙂
Sweet pickled pumpkin with cloves…this is a new combination for me. Pumpkin is a versatile vegetable that works well with sweet and salty recipes! I’ve never been on TV.
This is the first time I have tried pumpkin in a sweet recipe 🙂
Wow, Tandy what a clever recipe!!
Thanks Zirkie 🙂
These muffins sound fabulous! I’ve never had pickled pumpkin before! 🙂 And I have to tell hubby about your encounter with Jacques Villeneuve-he’s a huge F1 fan! 😀
I have grown up around racing drivers 🙂
Delectably & tasty looking muffins. I thought these were savoury muffins, but you used fructore so thay are sweet: sweet + bacon??? Strange combo, but I must try it out!
Sweet bacon is amazing 🙂
This sounds fantastic! I have never heard of pickled pumpkin, but I am now intrigued
It is an amazing condiment 🙂