Bacon Apple Crisp

Ingredients:
-2 jars of apple pie filling (mine was home canned by family members, the best kind!)
-1/2 pack of bacon
-Equal parts brown sugar, flour, oats (I mix up a cup of each, although I actually sub part of my flour out for almond meal because I am sneaky like that)
-1 stick of butter (I never use the whole stick but I melt it all anyway)

Fry up your bacon to where it just starts to get crispy.  I say I am going to candy it every single time I make something like this and then I end up not doing and then I end up wishing that I did.  So all I am saying is that I think it would be a really good idea if you candied it...either with brown sugar or maple syrup (the REAL KIND not that pancake crap, throw that junk OUT).  ;)

Anyway, I sprayed my pan with baking spray and then plopped the apple pie filling in.  I cut the apple chunks up a bit since it was home canned but I left a lot of big ones in too. 

Mix up your topping and sprinkle it over the apples.  I did not use all of mine and again, I wish I had because a lot of my topping melted into the crisp.  It wasn't bad by any means, but it also wasn't as crisp as I would prefer...it was a crispless crisp....On the other hand, I loved the attention being on the delicious apples and bacon, so maybe I would not want a thick topping as much as I imagine I would. 

Anyway, top your bacon on next and then pour just enough of the butter over the entire dish to moisten it.  Me and my ultra-precise measuring strikes again....

In an oven heated to 350F, bake the crisp for 22 minutes.  Remove and serve (if only we could serve this with maple bacon ice cream!) or cool it to take to work the next day and hope to heck you don't forget it.  For the record, I remembered to take it with me and it did not even run me late (forgetting to pack my lunch did run me late, which is ironic because I only ate a tiny bit of it and then went out to eat anyway...I am a sucker for Mexican food and lunch discussions).

Bacon apple crisp is much simpler than the mini pies, and it seemed to go over really well at work.  I ate a bite of it myself, and thought it wasn't too shabby.  Like I said above, if I had it to do over again I would probably use all of the topping.  The candied bacon part is not as critical, but would be interesting to see how it changes it.

It is a good sweet/salty/savory combo, in my opinion. I actually really like this concept of messing around with fruit pies and crisps because they tend to be such typical one note wonders.  There is really never a lot of variety in flavor or textures.  The exception to the flavor thing is pumpkin pie, which most people horrifically over-spice for my taste buds.  Why not add a little ginger to a peach crisp and put pecans in the topping?  Why not add bacon to apple? Why not add slivered almonds to a cherry one? WHY follow any typical culinary traditions that have stood the test of time ;).

This is definitely one of the side effects of watching the food network all the time during my undergrad.  I do actually find myself being judgmental on textures and flavor profiles...

I have a few other bacon ideas rolling around in the ole noggin', with the most curious being bacon on a homemade candy bar of sorts (mentioned during the first couple of weeks and knocking around my brain ever since)...but I mostly think I am fascinated by that idea because I want to call it "man candy".  Haha, I would make it just because the name would make me chuckle.

"What's that you have there?"

"Man candy."

"...Wait, what?"

Yep, that would be an instant classic. 

Happy crafting!