This recipe is the creation of someone very close to me and was the winner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Bacon Dessert Contest.

A friend has deemed this the Holy Grail of Baklava. It is very good, even better than the original Bacon Baklava from Food & Wine.

Chocolate Bacon Baklava (Amateur Division Winner)
Makes about 35 small pieces

1½ pounds sliced bacon
1 cup whole blanched almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped
2 cups mini-chocolate chips
½ of a 16-ounce box of phyllo dough
10 tablespoons (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1½ cups granulated sugar
1 cup Karo brown sugar syrup
½ cup water
2 tablespoons bourbon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In skillet, fry bacon in batches until crisp. Drain well and crumble. In food processor, finely chop the bacon with the almonds. Transfer to a bowl and mix in chocolate chips.

Butter a 13-by-9-inch metal baking pan.

Lay a sheet of phyllo in the pan; trim edges to fit and brush with butter. Repeat with 4 more phyllo sheets and butter. Spread about 1 ½ cups of the bacon-almond-chocolate-chip filling evenly over phyllo. Repeat this layering of 5 phyllo sheets and bacon filling two more times. Top with 5 buttered phyllo sheets, buttering the top well. With a small, sharp knife, cut baklava into 1 ½-inch diamonds.

Bake in preheated oven 10 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake about 1 hour longer, until nicely browned. (Check after 45 minutes to avoid overbrowning.)

Meanwhile, in small saucepan, combine the sugar, brown sugar syrup, water and bourbon and bring to a boil. Simmer 5 minutes, then let cool to room temperature. Pour cooled syrup over hot baklava. Store in refrigerator.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JRPfeff,

its delicious