A Quick Note About Bacon

It's pretty good. Really good. Life changing. Especially when you cover it in brown sugar until it caramelizes and you integrate it into a fluffy, crispy waffle. When I came across this recipe for Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles, I immediately knew how I would be spending my Saturday morning.

These waffles were a great way to christen my new waffle iron, and they turned out pretty beautifully; and, really, when a recipe begins with "sprinkle brown sugar over bacon," not too much can go wrong. Although they went well with butter and syrup, you could easily eat them plain. Overall, I might mess with the amount of brown sugar in the recipe to make the flavors deeper, and I would keep the bacon chunks on the large size.

Needless to say, they were a hit. I couldn't put more than two waffles on a plate without the family jumping on them. Even my historically bacon-ambivalent boyfriend declared them "Awesome." Although it is a somewhat labor intensive recipe for those of us who don't want to spend a ton of time in the kitchen before 9am, but it was worth it. Very. Very. Worth it.

Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles

8 slices bacon

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3 cups flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups buttermilk

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Prepare a baking sheet with cooking spray. Arrange the bacon on the prepared baking sheet, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Bake in the preheated oven until the bacon is crispy and the brown sugar is caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes*. Immediately remove the bacon to a cutting board; cut into small pieces and set aside.

Preheat a waffle iron; grease with cooking spray.

Whisk the flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Beat the eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla together in a separate bowl; fold the wet mixture into the flour mixture. Add the bacon and stir, being careful to not over mix.

Ladle the batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook until golden brown; serve hot.

: Even with a prepared, non-stick pan, some of the brown sugar burned and stuck to my cookie sheets. I would recommend trying to get all of the sugar on the bacon and making sure to use non-stick pans.

Recipe courtesy of Allrecipes.com's Alisan