One Perfect Bite: breadsticks

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Sweet and Spicy Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This recipe, while new to me, was popular several years ago. I've seen it in many places but I wanted to credit the correct source before using it here. It took a bit of searching and some back -tracing but I was able to identify Bon Appetit magazine as the place it originally appeared. These breadsticks appealed to me because they are really simple to make and I thought they'd be a wonderful addition to a game day spread. If you like bacon, I suspect you'll love these. There are a couple of tricks to making this a nosh that everyone will enjoy. You'll need to use a good quality bacon and exercise some judgment when it comes to baking it. I baked my breadsticks for 10 minutes longer than the time suggested in the recipe to assure the bacon was properly cooked. Once you take them from the oven, you'll want to move and roll them around so they don't stick to the racks as they cool. This is tricky because they'll be soft, but they'll firm up again as they cool. I suggest making these several hours before you plan to serve them. We were of two minds when it came to these. The Silver Fox, who loves bacon, thought they were great. Me? Maybe not so much. If you are looking for easy snack for game day these are worth a try. Here's the recipe.

Sweet and Spicy Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Bon Appetit

Ingredients:
3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons chili powder
Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
12 slices thin cut bacon
24 long thin breadsticks (grissini)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2) Combine brown sugar and chili powder and optional cayenne in a shallow pan; set aside.
3) Cut bacon in half lengthwise. Wrap 1 piece of bacon around each breadstick barber pole style. Roll each bread stick in brown-sugar mixture. Place bread sticks in a single layer on a cooling rack. Place rack on a foil-lined 15 x 10 x 1-inch jelly-roll pan.
4) Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve at room temperature. Yield: 24 breadsticks.