Brown Sugar Candied Bacon

Ingredients

• 1 lb thick-cut bacon (about 12 strips)
• 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp coarsely cracked black pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup

Before you cook

• Set a wire cooling rack inside a foil-lined rimmed sheet pan.
• Stir the brown sugar, cracked pepper and cayenne together in a wide shallow bowl.
• Heat the oven to 375°F.

Steps

1. Press one strip of bacon into the brown sugar mixture, coating both sides and packing the sugar on firmly with your fingers.
2. Lay the coated strip flat on the wire rack.
3. Coat and rack the remaining strips, leaving about half an inch between them.
4. Scatter any sugar left in the bowl over the tops of the strips.
5. Bake for 20 minutes, until the sugar has melted and is bubbling around the bacon.
6. Rotate the pan front to back and brush the strips lightly with the maple syrup.
7. Bake 8 to 12 minutes more, until the bacon is deep mahogany and the glaze is thick and slow-bubbling; watch closely from minute 25 on, because the sugar goes from caramel to burnt quickly.
8. Move the pan to a trivet and let the bacon sit right on the rack for 10 minutes, until the glaze hardens and the strips snap when bent.
9. Break the strips apart from one another and serve at room temperature.