Bring Home the Bacon… (Chocolate Maple Truffles)

This is a story that starts in the middle, goes to the end and finishes at the beginning.  It also is about Christmas…sort of.
In June of this year, 2016, my dog Burrshook and I had the good fortune of being in Vermont and attending Camp Gone to the Dogs for a week.  At camp, during the talent exhibition Friday afternoon the dogs were served homemade biscuits and the people where served homemade chocolate truffles. 
There was a unique bit of crunch and flavor that I noted after eating my third truffle [yes third, well I was on vacation and was tasting]. So at that very moment, I was saying to myself “I have got to include a recipe for these lovely chocolate truffles in the Christmas edition of the Cape May County Herald.” 
As it turns out the savory yet, the complimentary crunchy bit in the truffle is…bacon.
It is 1999 a sunny day in May.  I have just left Caledonia State Park heading west toward Fayetteville, Pa.  I have plucked my husband Peter off the Appalachian Trail that he has been hiking on for over two months. 
He is in need of a hot bath, some new batteries, and his first request is a meal that has not been freeze-dried. We pull into the driveway of the Southern Belle Diner after seeing the brunch buffet sign a ways back.  Inside it is beautiful with sunlight coming through the many windows, genuine southern hospitality from the staff and a giant buffet claiming 299 items.
The hiker makes his selections as do I.  The waffle is the best I have ever had; fruit salad with cream sauce is divine.
And then we bite into the bacon… so you think bacon can never get better? Well, it can and did in Fayetteville, Pa. that day. 
We rave about the bacon so much our server tells the kitchen staff and out comes a spry small lady who claimed to be 88 and cooks for the buffet.
She hands me a card with a hand written recipe for “Mountain Tops Bacon” and said there is a small fee for the recipe.  She then tells us the fee turns out, is simply to pass the recipe on to other cooks, so the goodness is shared.  We can do that.
December, Christmas week 1986.  I am at work when I am notified that I have visitors that want to see me.
I work lots of holidays but never have anyone coming to see me.  My visitors are carrying a very large tray and my coworkers and I gather around.
Before our eyes are, in full detail, a homemade chocolate train complete with toys, candy, reindeer, and even Santa made of chocolate.  My visitors are Lois and George McClure from Cape May Court House, and they are famous for making many large ginger bread and chocolate houses for charity auctions and B&B and casino decorations.
Because I had worked so many Christmas shifts and other holidays, the McClures wanted to reward me with a surprise at work to give me a great memory, and it did. 
This train was entirely edible and enough chocolate to last a long time.  It was a very nice payback for working December 24.
It is 1976 and a cold and windy December and a few days after Christmas. Fire destroyed one block of the Washington Street Mall between Jackson Street and Perry Street.
My Mother, Anna Brennan, has a storefront across the mall from the fire. She owned the House of Flowers and Gifts in Cape May for many years. She worked on holidays, of course).
On the night of the fire, she opened her store as a relief station for fire fighters and first responders to get warm and thaw. 
Other locals provided food and support for all involved, (remember a florist has a big cold box to store food.)
My mother admired those dedicated firefighters working in the freezing cold with ice everywhere, to slow the fire and try to save the buildings of the neighboring businesses and friends of hers. 
Her store’s pink rug was ruined by water and soot yet she was proud to help those working — and volunteering — during the December holidays.
Does anyone remember that night?
2016, December a week before Christmas.  I am sure you all love bacon. I am sure you all know someone that had to work holidays. 
That needs to work and bring home the “bacon” to pay the bills. Santa and Rudolph are not the only ones to work on Christmas Day.
I have worked 21 Christmases in my 37-year career, and also helped my husband thaw pipes and get someone’s heater started to keep everyone warm for Christmas celebrating, on my holidays off.
A quarter of Americans will be required to work on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day or New Year’s Day this year, according to Allstate/National Journal’s annual Heartland Monitor poll. 
In November 2016, about 123.96 million people were employed on a full-time basis, according to The Statistics Portal.
Add some part-time workers, and you have a large but sad crew not celebrating at home.
While retail workers have spoken in disapproval over holiday scheduling, particularly in recent years as stores are open, starting with hours on Thanksgiving, employees in industries including law enforcement, health care, travel, utilities, freight, and news also all work over the holidays. 
With Christmas Eve and day falling on a weekend, this year, many more workers in food and hospitality will be filling in shifts at the job too.  Thankfully tow truck drivers and dispatchers are ready if we need them for a flat tire fix over Christmas weekend. 
I think farmers work every day and with Christmas, on Sunday all types of clergy will be punching the time clock too.
Let’s not forget those sports teams and support staff that will be earning some big bacon on the Christmas game day.
Many people in the United States celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25. The day celebrates Jesus Christ’s birth. 
This day is commonly celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike with various traditions. Many families will go to church services.
It is often combined with customs from pre-Christian winter celebrations. Many people erect Christmas trees, decorate their homes, visit family or friends and exchange gifts. Family feasts are often a part of Christmas Day celebrations.
Christmas Day is truly a mix of religious celebration and commercial interests starting weeks ahead of time.  In reality a holiday is how you want to experience it, if you want it to be a good day make some bacon truffles and relax and enjoy.
The holiday work schedule is a topic talked about quite early in the year. You will get many, guilt-inducing pleas from those colleagues who have children, asking if the single or childless will cover for them on the Christmas Day shift.
Having 90-year-old grandparents got me some slack with that request.
Your dining options at work will be severely restricted. Hopefully, the group working can all bring something good to eat.  I suggest some kind of bacon treat.
And if you’re lucky, you’ll have loved ones ready to celebrate the holiday with you, regardless of when your Christmas Day can properly begin.
I saw a tee shirt once that makes a point, when life gives you lemons, throw them away and get some bacon.
 I truly am thankful for everyone that works on Christmas (and other holidays too].  I am sorry we have to do it.
I dedicate this article in thanks for a job well done and working it out to make joyful Christmas memories when you can squeeze them in between work. You have to love employment too, and the bacon it brings in, so you go to work.
Recipes follow for some delicious treats so you can share some bacon and an outstanding holiday memory. 
Mountain Tops Bacon
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper [or to taste]
1  lbs. bacon, thick sliced is best [cut strips in half it’s easier to dip]
DIRECTIONS
1.    Mix flour, sugar, and black pepper together on a paper plate.
2.    Coat bacon slices well with the mixture.
3.    Place bacon on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees until brown and crisp. Drain on paper.
4.    Store leftovers in refrigerator in sealed plastic bag
5.    Serve for breakfast, crumble or cut as a topping for a salad, or on a great BLT.
Chocolate Bacon Truffles
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 2/3 cups (10 oz.)  Dark Chocolate Morsels
1 tablespoon finely chopped, cooked crispy bacon
Pure maple syrup [few tablespoons]
Finely chopped toasted pecans
Or/ course sea salt
LINE baking sheet with wax or parchment paper.
HEAT cream to a gentle boil in a medium, heavy-duty saucepan. Remove from heat.
Add chocolate. Stir until mixture is smooth and chocolate is melted. Stir in bacon.
 Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until slightly thickened.
DROP chocolate mixture by rounded measuring teaspoon onto prepared baking sheet.
 Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Shape or roll each into balls. Roll truffles in syrup and toasted pecans.
/OR alternately/ sprinkle with few grains, of course, sea salt
 Store in airtight container in the refrigerator.
Jargowski writes from South Dennis.