By Susie Timm, Head Cheese
The final weekend in October was a really special one for me. I was mentally prepared to launch my new company November 1, and of course, I got to spend some serious time with some serious meat.
I headed down to Tucson with my BBQ boys of Loot ‘n Booty BBQ to the JW Marriott Starr Pass resort.
This was my 7th or 8th competition that I have participated in the past year. But it was the very first one where I was going to enter one of my very own desserts in the Backyard “Dessert” competition on Friday night.
As a team, we always compete in the four meat categories (chicken, pork ribs, pork shoulder and beef brisket) and we’ve won a LOT of hardware for our efforts.
I give the props to cooks Sterling “Smitty” Smith and Chris Rudhe for their inventive rubs and sauces. I’ve learned so much in the past year and frankly, it’s what inspired me to start this blog.
On that note, I’ll be writing about my adventures on the competitive BBQ circuit and sneaking some delicious recipes your way.
This particular competition was by far the “nicest” experience I’ve had on the road. I usually sleep in the front seat of my husband’s car for about 3 hours during the night as we start cooking around 10 PM and are awake most of the evening making certain the temp on the smoker stays around 250 degrees as well as all the other things that have to happen to prep meat for smoking.
This time, I had my own hotel room, and I was able to shower. Several times in fact. That too is a luxury. I sometimes say competitive BBQ is like camping and tailgating with 100 lbs of meat.
The hotel was extremely easy to work with and made sure every need was met. In fact, I forgot an essential element to my dessert recipe, and they quickly retrieved the ingredient for me from their kitchen!
My teammate Robert entered the appetizer portion of the back yard competition. He made bacon and ranch wrapped jalapenos. They were delicious. So delicious in fact he won first place in this category!
I made Candied Bacon Crusted Doughnut Holes with a Maple Buttercream Frosting. It was the first time I had made a dessert outside on a folding table. In a parking lot no less.
I used my dutch oven to heat the oil and I fried them on the propane burner on the side of the smoker.
Sadly, I did not win anything for my efforts, though as I mentioned Robert took first in appetizers and we placed 4th in Brisket in the main KC BBQ Society competition.
Here’s my recipe for the doughnut holes. They are really delicious. I think I’ll enter them again in a future competition, but next time I’ll make each serving a tad bigger so the judges can really taste the contrast in flavors between the dough, frosting and bacon.
Our next competition is next weekend in Sun City. Come out and see us!
Candied Bacon
1 lb bacon
1 cup light brown sugar
Maple Glaze
1 Stick Butter
1 small box powdered sugar
¼ cup milk
Vanilla Extract
Real Maple Syrup
Doughnut Holes
Canola or Peanut Oil for frying
2 cans refrigerated biscuits (buttermilk preferred over flaky kind)
¼ cup flour
Doughnut hole cutter
Bacon Prep:
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Lay bacon strips flat and coat each side liberally with brown sugar. Place on broiler pan. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Watch bacon carefully as sugar and fat will drip and combine and can smoke.
Remove from oven. Allow bacon to cool on a cutting board for at least 2 hours until crispy and dry.
Chop into very small pieces.
Maple Frosting Prep:
Combine all ingredients except powdered sugar in a large bowl. Beat with hand mixer and slowly add powered sugar until you reach desired consistency. Add maple syrup and vanilla to taste.
Doughnut Prep:
Heat oil in large pot on high heat. Remove biscuits from roll and place on flat, floured surface. Assure both sides of biscuit are floured. Using a floured doughnut hole cutter, cut small circles out of the dough.
To fry: add 2-3 doughnut holes to pot at one time. Brown on each side for 1-2 minutes. They will flip over on their own when they are browned. You may need to do this process 2x for approx 4 min total. Remove from pan and place onto a paper towel covered plate. Continue until all doughnuts are fried.
Allow doughnuts to cool completely before frosting. Frost ½ of the doughnut and roll in bacon crumbles.
Note: Bacon will stick to better doughnuts if it’s very dry and crumbled. Larger circles left over from biscuits can be fried and glazed and bacon covered as well!
Makes 16-24 holes.
