Yeah, that’s right: Bacon S’mores. Chocolate-covered candied bacon smothered in marshmallow in a graham cracker crust.

I can’t take credit for this idea, and actually I’m not sure I would want to. A friend tweeted about The Complete Sale of Selma Lee posting about Chewbacca Bars, which they also call Chunky Chewies. I immediately started telling my friends about them, calling them bacon s’mores, until someone pointed out the lack of graham. So of course, I added graham! The following is my own recipe, which is extraordinarily similar to others’ recipes, except where I made some changes.

Start with one pound of thick-cut, peppered bacon. Cut the uncooked slices into quarters or even sixths, and marinate the pieces for a few hours (in the fridge!) in equal parts balsamic vinegar and maple syrup (the real stuff, none of that Mrs Jemima gunk.) Coat with brown sugar and more pepper, and bake on a wire rack on a LINED baking sheet at 350 degrees until delicious. I didn’t time it. If you are someone who can leave baking bacon well enough alone, good for you. I stuck my head in there to smell it every, oh, ten seconds, so it took a while to bake but it was easy to tell when it was done.

Let me emphasize the lined baking sheet part. SERIOUSLY, I have been soaking and scrubbing my baking sheet since Sunday and it hasn’t come clean yet. Don’t say I didn’t warn you to line it.

When the bacon is done, remove it from the oven and move it to a plate to cool. Melt about 2 1/2 cups chocolate - I used dark, but it’s up to you - in a double boiler, and, when the bacon is sufficiently cool, dump it in and fold it in to coat. Really coat it. No wimpy half-coated pieces here. Place a greased wire rack on a large amount of newspaper in an area of your kitchen that you don’t much need to make other things, and dump the chocolate-covered bacon onto it to set. Let it set. Stop eating it and just let it sit.

Meanwhile, take two of the three packets of graham crackers that come in a normal sized box, and make really fine crumbs out of them. I did this using freezer bags and a rolling pin and beating them into submission. You can also use a food processor, but the rolling pin method is actually quite fun! Place 1/2 of the crumbs into a glass 9- by 11-inch baking dish, and set the other half aside.

Now, you make marshmallow. Yes, you make it from scratch, because homemade marshmallow is god’s gift to the world and about 427 times better than store-bought. Really. I used Joy of Baking’s recipe and I used it verbatim*, because everyone warned me it was really gooey and kind of difficult. It is really gooey, but it actually cleans up pretty easily with just water, and it is not that difficult.

NOW - chop the chocolate covered bacon into bite-sized pieces and set aside. Pour 1/2 of the marshmallow cream into your crumb-prepared baking dish, and put the chocolate-covered bacon on top. Add the remaining marshmallow and sprinkle the other half of the graham crumbs on top. Allow to set for a few hours - I gave it four hours but sped it up a bit in the fridge, and it was fine.

It will look delicious and pretty like this:

… and it will be divisive. My sister says chocolate-covered bacon is the most disgusting thing she can think of; fair-goers across America think it’s a wonderful treat. Everyone who tried a piece liked it, but only one went back for seconds. I thought it was good. I think most things made with bacon and most things made with marshmallow are good. Chocolate doesn’t hurt.

Will you like bacon s’mores? Only one way to find out!

*verbatim? OK, so not really. I don’t really do verbatim. But I came pretty close this time… I doubled the recipe because I needed extra to make s’mores cakes for the vegetarians and the Muslim (blog post to come), and I also used a hand mixer instead of the recommended stand mixer, because I don’t own a stand mixer. But otherwise: totally verbatim.

Megan Kniepkamp is the resident baker for Epic Portions and serves a very important job, because none of us are any good at it. Visit EpicPortions.com to view her other delicious baking creations.