Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks

evelyn/athens's Note:

These are truly awesome and a cinch to make. Having enough on hand may be a problem cause people eat a lot of them.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 40 breadst ...

• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar (spread out on a tray and allowed to dry for 1-2 hours before using)
• 1 tablespoon chili seasoning mix
• 2 lbs bacon (very thinly sliced)
• 40 -50 breadsticks (grissini)

Directions:

1. After the brown sugar has air-dried a bit, add the chili seasoning and mix with fingers to blend well.
2. Take a bacon rasher and dip it into the sugar, pressing sugar in lightly on both sides.
3. Wrap, barber-pole style around a breadstick and place on a greased (I use olive oil) baking pan or cookie sheet.
4. Repeat with as many bacon rashers as you have left.
5. Preheat oven to 400F.
6. Roast until bacon is cooked and you can see sugar has caramelized- make sure it's cooked and not burnt- about 8-10 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and CAREFULLY pick up breadstick and place on a large platter to harden (the breadsticks will be soft at this point but will harden as they cool).
8. This must be done immediately, otherwise the caramelized sugar will set and it will be impossible to get your breadsticks out of the pan.

Reviews

[* Pamela *]

Great appetizer! Serve these at a cookie exchange evening and I only had 6 left for my husband to sample when he got home. (He said they were even good reheated!!) I used chili powder instead of chili seasoning and the flavour combination was great. I think next time I will buy thin sliced bacon as some of my pieces were quite thick and did not wrap easily around the breadsticks. Will make again-thanks!

[SuzieQue]

I made these twice - once with the thin grissini bread sticks and once with thicker sticks. The grissini breadsticks did not get crunchy again after cooling, but the thicker ones did and they were really good.

[LauraTracey]

I love this recipe!! I used a little cayenne instead of the chili powder (just preference) and cut the bacon in half the long way. It wrapped around much easier and also let the bacon stretch even further. Fantastic - a must make!!