More Birthday Bacon

I made more birthday bacon! The bacon roses were for Troy’s birthday, so I really wanted to make some birthday bacon for Jerry too, but of course I didn’t want to make the same exact project again. Since Jerry’s annual Oscar party is also his birthday party, I decided to make a birthday bacon forest as Into the Woods Chocolate Bacon!

I was hoping for the spooky drooping branches for the trees like the logo artwork for the musical, so I set a couple bread pans upside down on a foil-covered baking sheet, then covered that with more foil to give some curvature. I used my kitchen shears to cut lengthwise about halfway down the slice of uncooked bacon, then cut shorter slits for branches towards the end. I stretched the cut bacon slice with the intact trunk portion across the flat top of the foil, then stretched the branches to fan out over the foil hill. Once the branches were arranged, I gave the flat uncut section a couple twists to look more like a tree trunk. Here you can see that one trunk was still not yet twisted.

Baking the bacon trees was a lot fussier and time-consuming than the bacon roses. I could only fit three trees in my oven at once compared to a dozen or more roses, and I had to keep checking the oven often since the branches would move around and stick to each other while the bacon shrank while baking. Here you can see 5 minutes baked compared to 15 minutes baking time, both times needing to adjust the branches again.

I also needed to let the baked bacon cool in place on the foil otherwise it would lose its shape, which added to the time involved. Once the bacon trees were cool, I set them carefully in a bowl to keep their curves…but the smallest branches were too fragile when the trees touched each other!

I knew I couldn’t get drooping branches from only one slice, and after they were baked, it looked like three slices should make a decent tree. Unfortunately I was already running out of time before the party started, so I decided five trees would be enough, and I started baking half-slices on another baking sheet so those would be cool enough to accept chocolate. From previous edible art experience, I figured people might be reluctant to break the trees to eat them, so a carpet of chocolate bacon pieces in front of the trees would be a good serving plan. I melted 60% Ghirardelli baking chips in a plastic piping bag in the microwave, then let it cool a bit while figuring out the best tree plan. A collar of foil to hold all three slices touching each other plus standing upright on the display stone ended up working the best. I piped a mound of chocolate for the base of the tree to stick, then assembled the three slices in the foil collar in my hand, piping chocolate between the trunk pieces, gently squeezed the ends of the foil around the bacon tree, then carefully stood the trunk in the chocolate mound, arranging the foil as vertical support. After each bacon tree was standing on its own, I piped more chocolate down the center to make sure the trunk was solid. Thankfully these set in time at room temperature since I didn’t have enough fridge space for a quick chill!

By the time the trees were setting, the flat baked bacon was cool enough for me to drizzle more melted chocolate with a spoon over everything. I have seen chocolate-dipped bacon before, so I thought I could be different and save a little time by only drizzling chocolate and only covering one side. I am glad I have plastic lids for these baking sheets, since the bacon slices arrived to the party still cooling on the sheet! I knew there was no way they would stay in place on the display stone anyway, plus they might dislodge a tree or two as they moved around in the car.

I was very glad I had only a couple miles to drive on surface streets so I could drive slowly and carefully with my precious cargo. I also had baked a Baymax Brie, which fit on its plate on another baking sheet with plastic lid, so since I didn’t have any spare box the correct size to hold the display stone without wiggling, I had a stack of two covered baking sheets with the display stone in the open air on top. The stone stayed stuck in place on the top plastic lid, and I was able to arrange so the car wall was to the non-tree side, and my heavy emergency kit blocked the other side, so nothing scooted even around four turns…whew! Glad I now have an SUV with a nice flat floor for projects like this. It was a quick setup with my pre-printed signs, then carrying my trays back to the car, take photos, then I was free to enjoy the party!