Bacon Brownies

So, during last year's competition practice, Pete found a crazy chocolate bar while looking for crazy ingredients. It was Vosges Bacon + Chocolate. While it retails for about $9 a bar, it's a sensory experience that any foodie should indulge in at least once. Her description of its creation reminds me of flavor experiences I had as a kid...accidently, of course, as I was a purist. 

"I began experimenting with bacon + chocolate at the tender age of 6, while eating chocolate chip pancakes drenched in Aunt Jemima® syrup, as children often do. Beside my chocolate-laden cakes laid three strips of sizzlin' bacon, just barely touching a sweet pool of maple syrup. And then, the magic—just a bite of the bacon was too salty and I yearned for the sweet kiss of chocolate and syrup, so I combined the two. In retrospect, perhaps this was a turning point; for on that plate something magical happened, the beginnings of a combination so ethereal and delicious that it would haunt my thoughts until I found the medium to express it—chocolate. 

From there, it was just a matter of time…and what began as a love of salt and sweet quickly unraveled into an obsession. No sooner could I wait to unveil the royal coupling in solid bar form, a deep milk chocolate with bits and pieces of applewood smoked bacon and just a sprinkling of Alder salt. Really, what doesn't taste better with bacon?" 
–Katrina

So, in an effort of flavor exploration tonight, I am attempting to make bacon brownies. I know enough about baking to break the rules a little....bacon grease is close enough to butter, which is close enough to oil. If you can add chopped nuts to brownies, then why not add a little chopped bacon. So far I have only tasted the batter, as it is in the oven with forty minutes to go, but I will let my readers know how that goes...all 3 of them (if there are even that many). If it is delicious I will post the recipe for others to enjoy. In the mean time-