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Hope and Greenwood's maple syrup, pecan and bacon lollies.
Hope and Greenwood's maple syrup, pecan and bacon lollies. Photo: Christian Barnett
Hope and Greenwood's maple syrup, pecan and bacon lollies. Photo: Christian Barnett

Maple syrup, pecan and bacon lolly – recipe

This article is more than 9 years old
A joyful combo of bacon and maple syrup ticks all of the salty and sweet boxes – and remember to crunch, not lick

I am absolutely besotted with the combo of bacon and maple syrup. Besotted. This joyful recipe tickles all my salty and sweet boxes. It's important to embrace crunching not licking to reveal their taste bombs of salty bacon and maple pecan sweetness.

(makes 4 lovely lollies)
A little vegetable oil
1–2 rashers of unsmoked streaky bacon
10g pecans, toasted and chopped
150g caster sugar
25g golden syrup
2 tbsp maple syrup
4 lolly sticks

Fill the kitchen sink with cold water. Weird but stay with me. Heat your grill to high.

Place a sheet of baking parchment on a board, then draw four 6.5cm (2in) circles on it, spaced apart. Turn the paper over so that the pencil is on the other side. Brush each round with the oil.

Snip the rind off the bacon rashers, then grill until crisp and golden. Cool, then snip into little pieces. Please try not to eat them, though of course you will.

Divide the cooled bacon among the circles, along with the pecan nuts. Position the lollipop sticks near the circle, too.

Put the sugar and 75ml (2fl oz) water into a high-sided heavy-bottomed pan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar.

Add the golden and maple syrups and put a sugar thermometer in too. Turn up the heat slightly and watch carefully until the thermometer reaches 150C (300F). Take the pan off the heat and dip the base of the pan in the sink of cold water to stop the mixture cooking any further. Cool for a minute or two, then carefully spoon some of the syrup into each circle over the bacon/pecans. The syrup will run, but will thicken slightly on cooling. Press in the sticks, then continue to spoon the syrup into the circle on top of the first lot of syrup (if the syrup has gone hard, put the pan back over a low heat to soften it again).

Allow to set then carefully lift off the parchment.

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