Chocolate Bacon Baklava

I'm sitting here eating a piece of this baklava, and reflecting on its balance of savory and sweet. it's delicious. this recipe was the amateur winner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Bacon Bake-Off. I made a couple changes from the original recipe, but no big ones.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds sliced bacon
• 1 c chopped blanched almonds, toasted
• 12 oz (1 bag) mini semi-sweet chocolate chips 
• 1/2 of a 16-oz box of phyllo dough
• 1 stick melted butter
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 3/4 c real maple syrup
• 1/2 c corn syrup
• 1/2 c water
• 2 T whiskey

Start by cooking the bacon in batches, until crispy. Then chop in a food processor.

I felt like my bacon wasn't crispy enough, so after I 

chopped the bacon in the food processor, I put it back

in the pan and cooked it for a few more minutes, for 

optimal "crispiness."

Roast almonds and mix with bacon.

Wait for everything to cool, and THEN add chocolate chips.

 Unfortunately, I did NOT let everything cool, and

this resulted in problems that you will soon see.

Phyllo Dough fun! Butter a 9x13 pan well. Lay down the first piece of phyllo, and brush with melted butter. Repeat until you have 5 bottom layers.

You don't need to douse the phyllo sheets in  butter, so 

make sure not to drown them! Also, if you're working 
slowly, make sure to cover your phyllo with plastic 
wrap or a damp wash cloth so it doesn't  dry out!

Then spread about a cup and a half of the filling mix over the phyllo dough.

Here's... where I had problems. Because the bacon 

was still pretty warm when I added the chocolate, it

 all ended up as a clumpy, melty mess. Ideally, if 

everything is cool, it should spread like a dream.

Alternate between 5 layers of buttered phyllo and a layer of the filling. When you get to the last 5 sheets of phyllo, butter the top sheet well, and cut into diamonds.

Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then another 45-60 minutes at 325. When you put the baklava in the oven, start the syrup. In a small saucepan, mix together the maple syrup, corn syrup, water, sugar, and whiskey. Bring to a simmer, then let cool.

YUM!

Next, pour the cooled syrup over the hot baklava.

I tried to make sure that I poured into the cracks

between the pieces, so that the top crust would stay crispy.

Refrigerate overnight. 

Enjoy!

Overall, this is an amazing dish. Any lover of baklava will be familiar with the textures, but pleasantly surprised by the taste. This takes the form of baklava, but really not much of the flavor, as the nuts are mostly taken over by the bacon and chocolate, and the honey is replaced by maple syrup. I would totally make this again, but beware of how big the batch is!  This is definitely something to take to a party or generally parse amongst friends.

Critical reception: My roommates were unanimous in their approval of this dish. Surprisingly, even with 1 1/2 pounds of bacon, the bacon is really well balanced with the chocolate. 

Changes for next time: Making this again, I would use 2 pounds of bacon to amp up the flavor a bit, add a bit of salt to the syrup, and I'd chop the bacon less fine, to maintain some of the texture.