I have been wanting to make bacon bread twists since I saw a version of them on Half Baked Harvest. We made candied bacon with SKORDO Blueberry Pork Rub for an event two years ago and I kid you not, people went nuts over them! Combining it with puff pastry and cheese seemed obvious, plus the twirls are so much easier to eat and a bit whimsical too. We used munster cheese here because it's mild and won't compete with the rub but super melty - you can use whatever cheese you'd like though. With the blueberry and bacon, these have a somewhat breakfast-y flavor, we'll be serving them Thanksgiving as our first appetizer during the parade. They'd also be lovely as a before dinner app though! The rub has freshly ground rosemary in it too which gives a rich flavor that naturally pairs well with pork.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup SKORDO Blueberry Pork Rub
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 2 sheets (1 box) frozen puff pastry, thawed
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3/4 cup shredded munster cheese (or whatever your favorite is!)
- 12 strips bacon, cut in half length-wise
Directions:
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Preheat oven to 375° F. Line 2 baking sheets with foil and place a wire rack on top. Lightly rub each rack with oil.
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Combine the brown sugar and Blueberry Pork Rub in a shallow bowl (you'll be dunking the twists in this bowl later)
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Place both sheets of thawed pastry on a lightly floured counter. Brush the surface of each with a beaten egg. Evenly sprinkle the cheese over the puff pastry. Dust a rolling pin lightly with flour and roll the rolling pin over the cheese, gently pressing the cheese into the pastry. Fold the pastry in half, then cut each into 10 (1/2 inch) wide strips. Pinch the ends to seal, then gently twist each strip several times to enclose the cheese.
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Take a piece of bacon (cut lengthwise) and wrap it around the twisted pastry. Repeat with the remaining twists. Dredge the twist through the brown sugar mix, tossing to coat, placing the twist on the prepared baking sheet as you go.
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Bake 30 to 50 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. My bacon took 45 minutes to cook, start checking the twists at around 30 minutes. Serve warm.
Tips:
You can complete steps 1-4 ahead of time and keep in the fridge until ready to bake.
Feel free to omit the bacon here! For hosting this holiday season, we'd recommend making one batch with + one without to cater to our vegetarian or pork-avoidant guests!
Inspired by Half Baked Harvest