Sweet 'n' Spicy Baked Beans

Recipe from Brian Ballou

INGREDIENTS

1 lb thick sliced bacon, chopped
3 large sweet onions, diced
5 bell peppers, diced
12 hot links, sliced into half moons
3/4 lb light brown sugar
18 oz BBQ Sauce, sug: Sweet Baby Ray's*
2- 55 oz cans Bush's Baked Beans Homestyle*
1- 55 oz can Bush's Baked Beans Original*
Vinegar (optional)**

*Use whatever ratio or brand you want, this is just what I have always used, and it works.
**If you find that the beans are too sweet, throw in a dash of vinegar to cut the sweetness.

DIRECTIONS

In a large pot, over medium heat cook bacon until crispy.
Remove from pot, and leave rendered bacon fat in pot.
Add onions and peppers, and cook until soft. Add hot links and brown.
Return bacon to pot, add brown sugar and BBQ sauce. Mix thoroughly.
Stir as you add baked beans to mixture. Cook over medium heat until beans are warmed.
Remove from heat and serve.

I used to work at an oilfield chemical company, and every year we were tasked with catering the API Golf Tournament Lunch for the Friday flights every year. I had joked that we needed to do catering on the side, because we'd kill it. This recipe for baked beans will make the crankiest of old men happy to see you. They will also keep them coming back for more, even if they just ate or are about to eat, a crap ton of food on the course. They are spicy, they are sweet, they are delicious. I'm certain I will find true love someday while serving these baked beans.

Roll Out Cookie Hack

Rolled out cookies are always my favorite cookies. There is just something about eating a cookie that is shaped like a heart, or bear, or Christmas tree that just makes you happy!

However, rolling out the dough is the worst. There are so many factors at play that it's hard to nail it sometimes.

• The dough can be too cold.
• The dough can be too warm.
• The dough is sticky.
• The dough keeps cracking.
• The dough isn't rolling out evenly.
• The dough can't be worked too much.

 It is definitely the worst part about making delicious shaped cookies.

Most recipes call for some refrigerator chill time, because for cut out cookies, a lot of the rise comes from butter*, so you want to the dough to be cold, so that the butter doesn't melt prematurely. Premature melting is what causes misshapen, and greasy cookies. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Which is why older recipes always say to wrap your dough in cling film, and let rest in the refrigerator.

Which is nearly impossible to roll out after you've forgotten it for several hours, and it has unfortunately taken on the smell of the pungent onion your grandma cut and chucked into the refrigerator.


Which is where gallon sized ziplock bags came into my life and to the rescue. Instead of wrapping your dough in a ball in cling film, use a gallon sized ziplock bag. The pros are as follows

• ziplock bags are sturdy enough that you can make it as flat as possible without tearing
• you'll take up less space in the refrigerator
• the dough will be evenly chilled
• you will spend a lot less time working the dough
• you don't have to worry about getting caught in a roll of cling film

A gallon sized ziplock will perfectly hold a single batch of my Momma's Sugar Cookie Dough… and single batches of most other roll out cookie dough recipes.

When it's time to roll out your dough, just rip open the side of the bag and pull it out.