Bacon Cheddar Twists

I've often been asked what my favorite foods are since I like to cook so much. I think people are expecting me to stay something "fancy" like roasted garlic brussel sprouts with a balsamic glaze, or zucchini goat cheese tart, or meyer lemon bars with homemade lemon curd...my point is they expect something with a bit of pizzazz. Though, my answer is, mac and cheese, potatoes, onions, garlic and...BACON. I love bacon. I love a nice piece of crispy bacon. I love the thick hickory smoked bacon just as much as that cheap Corn King brand bacon too. To me, if you cook it right, then it never tastes wrong. When I gave my daughter her first piece of bacon and she tried a bite and handed it back to me. I was shocked, I didn't know what to do! I pondered a DNA test. I tried explaining to her what bacon is and how delicious it can be. She wasn't interested. Well I gave it to her again several months later and she ended up asking for more. Now we have to set a limit to her pieces of bacon cause she'll just keep asking for more! On the weekends I'll ask her "you want a yogurt for breakfast?" and sometimes she responds "no, bacon". The girl would choose bacon over pancakes and waffles any day, a girl after my own heart.

I love taking food to parties or get togethers to share, and the dishes with bacon are by far some of my (and my friends) favorite. This particular yummy treat is so easy and fast that I couldn't resist sharing it. I cook all of my bacon in the oven now and I am the impatient one constantly checking the oven to see if it is done and crispy yet, but these bacon cheddar twists just take about 15 minutes to cook, that's it!

I will walk you through the recipe now. So to get started get a large baking sheet and line it with parchment paper and spray it with non-stick spray then set aside. Preheat your oven to 375. Then in a small bowl whisk your eggs, mustard and just a splash of water. Season that egg mixture with salt and pepper and set aside.

Any pastry chef with tell you the secret to shiny and golden brown pastry is to brush it with an egg wash. It is well worth it trust me. Also, my husband hates mustard. I try to sneak it in on him when I can in homemade salad dressings or marinades and I've done it so much he gets paranoid before eating certain things, stopping with the fork almost to his mouth "did you put mustard in this?". Half the time I just lie to  him and say no, thus only furthering the paranoia because he knows I lie about it. Ha! Anyway, I was honest with him about putting mustard in this egg wash and when I approached him I had worked on my defense:

The mustard with give it so much flavor!
It's only a teaspoon!
It with go so well with the cheddar and bacon!

And that's what did it, reason #3. So to anyone out there who doesn't like mustard, give it a try with this. It is a light flavorful note that pairs so well with the smoky bacon and creamy cheddar. It also tastes great with the crunch of the poppy/sesame seed topping and slightly caramelizes the tops of your puff pastry.

Back to the task at hand...next, you'll roll out your puff pastry. All you need is one sheet (which only costs about $2.25 what a deal!). I take mine from the freezer, wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge till I am ready for it. They typically thaw out pretty quickly, but thawing it out in the fridge with thaw it out nice and evenly. Dust your work surface with flour and roll out your puff pastry.

Then sprinkle your shredded cheddar over half of the puff pastry.

Then fold the pastry without cheese on top of the half with cheese and roll out again. This step helps press the cheese into the pastry.

 A lot of the times when people work with puff pastry they usually brush on melted butter at some point, but with these we don't have to. The bacon grease does all the work for us and just stop for a second and imagine puff pastry that has been flavored with cheese and bacon grease, my mouth is watering as I type this! Now grab a pizza cutter and cut your dough into strips. If I am taking these to a party and I want to make a lot then I cut small strips 22-26 and I also cut my bacon strips in half lengthwise. However, if you aren't serving a larger crowd you can cut these into 12-16 strips (about less than an inch thick each) and leave your bacon in whole strips.

 You'll place your bacon on top off your strips of dough and twist.

 Place your twists on your prepared baking sheet and press the edges down to keep them from untwisting while baking.

Then you'll brush your egg mixture on the tops of your twists and sprinkle with sesame/poppy seeds.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the bacon is crispy.

Let cool slightly and serve warm or at room temperature. When we first made ours I ended up storing the left overs in a Ziploc bag.

I'll be honest we snacked on those things like crazy! Even 4 or 5 days later they still tasted yummy! They taste great by themselves but you could also serve with a honey mustard dipping sauce or marinara sauce. For most, bacon is a crowd pleaser. Dip these in your broccoli cheddar soup or take these to your next football watch party or be like me and take them to your book club and people will thank you for it, I promise. Enjoy!

For the recipe for bacon cheddar twists, click here.

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