Bacon Cups!   or   Sometimes Recipes Lie!

You know how the recipe picture looks like this.....

But it turns out like this...

Here's a big secret to being a great cook..... always try out a recipe first before making it for others....because sometimes RECIPES LIE!!!  Seriously.   

Sometimes, no matter how well you read the directions, no matter how closely you pay attention,  you get a Great Big FAIL.  But thankfully, this was just a small fail.

Now, it wasn't really my fault.  Nope, nothing at all.   You see, the recipe said NOTHING about using a LARGE muffin pan.   And being the naive bacon cup maker that I was, I used a REGULAR muffin pan, expecting to get the nice, lovely picturesque cups.  Wasn't gonna happen...not a big enough upside down cup to put more than one strip around the sides. 

By the time I realized this dilemma, my fingers were already full of bacony goo.  (note to bacon cup makers - if you want to take pictures as you make these, be sure to have a plastic bag handy to stick your hand in so your camera will not also be full of bacony goo)  I really didn't want to rummage through the pantry looking for the LARGE muffin pan...so I soldiered on.  I mean, I had a very hungry hubby wanting his promised *Special Valentine's Day Breakfast* (which I foolishly had announced ahead of time).  What was I to do???   I was determined to make it work.

First step is to turn the muffin pan upside down on a larger cooking pan.  This step is VERY important as there will be grease...and you should save this lovely grease for some other devious thing like gravy...NOT have it splattered all over your oven which could lead to unpleasant kitchen smoke.  Cover it with foil, making sure to tuck in all the edges and smoosh it against the cup sides.  DO NOT put cooking spray on the foil...the bacon will slide down the sides.

Next, you cover the cups with bacon.  I only had enough to make four cups and that's all I needed anyway.  One think I noticed while closely inspecting the *nice* bacon cup picture, the strips look more narrow than mine.  I really don't think I had fat bacon...fatty maybe but not fat.  I think they trimmed the strips to be more narrow, making it easier to fit more strips (aka the sneaky things they do to make the photos look better).

Start by laying one strip over the top, trimming to fit.  Then, place another one crossways over that to make a +.   Measure one strip to go around the cup and trim.  Weave in and out of the crossed bacon.  Using a regular muffin pan only allowed me to do this step once.  I thought I'd be all clever and put a piece of trimming in the middle to give it more bacony heft...not a stellar idea as those bits were the first to brown too much.

Cook in a 400 degree oven until bacon reaches the desired level of crispiness.  The recipe said 10-15 minutes....I kept this in for 25 minutes, and it still needed a few more minutes.  I don't take kindly to bacon blubber...must be crispy at all times.  I turned the pan a few times to make sure it was browning evenly.  You will get a few overly browned edges if they are sticking out, so check a few times to see if you need to tuck them in.  Let the bacon rest/cool for about 5 minutes to set up before removing it from the pan.  I used a knife to gently loosen any stuck edges.

And the results were quite nice, if not as exquisite as the recipe photo.  Only *I* had a problem with that....being the perfectionist that I am (oh the curse!)   The cups were filled with scrambled eggs made with fresh hen eggs, dotted with a bit of butter and pepper,  and the guys loved them.  How could they not???  It's BACON for pete's sake!!   It would be nice to sprinkle a little grated cheese on the eggs, if you want.  That was the plan but I was so elated that it was actually coming together...well, I forgot.   (on the side is a homemade biscuit with bacon gravy and that's a post for another day)

Moral of the Story~

Don't be afraid to try a new recipe...go for it!   But there may be a misprint or the instructions incomplete.  It's a good idea to do a test run first!  And remember....

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