Monday is my birthday and Andi, being the kind (and crazy) coworker that she is, orchestrated a surprise party for me yesterday. There was brown butter pound cake with brown butter frosting, gifts and—this is the clincher—two kinds of bacon ice cream.
Seriously. Bacon. Ice. Cream.
Despite a busy day at work and then French class, Andi went home Wednesday night and whipped up two kinds of bacon ice cream (though I think “whipped up” hardly describes the process of making homemade ice cream). The Pecan-Brown Sugar & Bacon Ice Cream recipe was from the cookbook, Seduced by Bacon: Recipes & Lore About America’s Favorite Indulgence, by Joanna Pruess; the other, called Candied Bacon Ice Cream, was from David Lebovitz’s book, The Perfect Scoop.
In all honestly, I was a little terrified. Bacon ice cream? I mean, I like bacon. I like ice cream. But the idea of eating the two together was a little off-putting—not to mention tasting it in front of a room of people waiting for my reaction.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The bacon flavor wasn’t as strong as I thought it might be. In fact, the Pecan-Brown Sugar & Bacon Ice Cream tasted mostly like Butter-Pecan Ice Cream, only more salty. The Candied Bacon Ice Cream was my favorite of the two. It was richer and more creamy. Plus, as Kristin in the Betty Crocker Kitchens put it, it had a good “mouth feel.” I’m going to pretend I know what that means.
All in all, it was a wonderful celebration. It’s always nice to step outside my cube, take a break from looming deadlines and recognize how nice my coworkers really are.
