I have a few shopping centres that I frequent for grocery shopping and errands. It depends on what I need to do (visit the post office, chemist etc) and what I need to buy (fresh fish, vegetables or groceries). One of them is the conveniently located and rather unique Surry Hills Shopping Village. It has a bit of everything there (and no this isn’t a plug for them, read on 
) and it is closeby to where we live.
It’s also near the lovely lass that I go to for my eyebrows. She was telling me that she finds it an odd place at best and a while back when she was walking through the centre after grocery shopping with her sister, a man came up to them both and excitedly exclaimed.
“Oh my oh! You girls are so beautiful!! I just c****d my pants! Beyooootiful!!”. Their only response was to look at each other and laugh as he ran away to (presumably) attend to his pants.
Ever since she told me about that story, I was on the lookout for this man when I visit there. And I was there only last week as I needed to buy the fixings for bacon roses as I need a variety store and a store that sold bacon. Yep that’s right, bacon roses. If your other half is allergic to real roses or just loves bacon as much as many in the world do, then this is the perfect way to say I love you on Valentines Day. Say it with bacon.
A picture of the bacon roses was originally sent to me by Queen Viv and I found the recipe on the Instructables. Not only were they delicious but they were also easy to make. There was one stumbling block and that was their suggestion of using a drill to make holes in mini muffin trays. I only had a tray on loan from my mother so I didn’t think she’d appreciate me giving her back one with holes in the bottom. Also, me and a drill? That was not going to end well….
From reading the helpful comments on their site, it seemed like they needed to drain of the fat to cook and brown properly and they needed the cup to help maintain the round shape so I experimented a little. I tried wrapping them in foil and baking paper as well as securing them with pins. I found the pins worked perfectly and were the easiest and baking them on a cake cooling tray allowed them to drain properly. In fact, doing it this way only took about 45 minutes from beginning to end and kitsch or not, these were delicious!
And don’t forget, everything is better with bacon!
So tell me Dear Reader, will you be giving chocolates this year for Valentines Day? Or do you think that it’s a load of rubbish?
I thought I’d thrown in Jason Mecier’s Kevin Bacon made out of bacon
Maple Bacon Roses
For two dozen roses
- 24 rashers of streaky bacon
- Non stick oil spray
- 24 pins
- A metal cake cooling tray
- Baking tray
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 bunches of plastic roses (24 roses in total)
1. Preheat the oven to 190C/374F. Place a cake cooler tray above a baking tray (line the bottom baking tray with baking parchment for easier cleaning). Spray the cake cooler with non stick spray.
2. Take each rasher of bacon and roll it up from the larger end to the smallest. Close shut with a pin and place on the cake cooling tray. Don’t worry if it doesn’t sit upright, I found that they were easier to get off the cooling tray when they weren’t sitting upright and had fallen on their side.
3. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes. With ten minutes to go, remove them from the oven and brush each rose with maple syrup and return to the oven for the final ten minutes. Remove from oven and cool and try not to eat one while getting this ready (although really, who is going to count that they have received exactly two dozen roses?).
4. While the bacon is cooking, prep the rose stems. Dramatically, as if you pulling apart the roses from a scorned ex lover, pull each rose off the stem. Or do it gently, you pick. The faux rose is made up of many parts: the receptacle which is the larger part under the rose, the stigma and another part like a little cup as shown (I had to look up the name of the receptacle, do people actually know the names of these parts? Or perhaps they did better at biology than me ).
The three parts that you will put back together
There are usually three green parts and then the petals. Pull these apart and remove the petals. Then put the three green parts back together. The only difference is that once you attach these to the stem, gently push them down a bit further so that the stem sticks up about an inch as shown. This is what you’ll use to attach the bacon roses to. Wash the stems in hot soapy water along with the stems and dry.
Leave a bit of the stem protruding as you will impale the bacon roses on the stems
5. Place the stems in a vase or in wrapping paper. I find the bacon roses a bit easier to work with once they’re cooler. Slide the roses onto the protruding stems and give them to your paramour! Note: they stay on the stems quite well because they are impaled on the stem. Just avoid tipping them over or upside down and you could actually have quite a transportable gift!
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81 Comments | Add your own
Oh, those are terrific!
Cheers,
Rosa
You weren’t kidding! Very clever. We usually give each other a small gift for Valentine’s Day. Love the portrait of Kevin Bacon made with bacon.
Definitely don’t want to eat it, but so gorgeous, Spay Lady!
These are perfect for bacon lovers!
Darling, this bacon thing is starting to get out of hand..
Bacon roses are one thing, but Kevin Bacon made out of bacon?
You have, I assume, spent hours at The Oracle of Bacon? It’s telling me Lorraine Elliott has a Bacon number of 3.
http://oracleofbacon.org/
Wow, they really are beautiful !!
I wait every year for the chocolate covered strawberries my friend sends me…
they are wonderful!
he’d like these bacon roses, maybe if he’s really nice to me I’ll make him some…
Stunning Lorraine and what a great idea. I love the look of these but I do wonder how the ‘roses’ stay on those stems! xx
Now that’s my kind of bouquet!
I love it,I love it,I love it Lorraine! Valentines is so jaded that these means such a fun change from the usual. We used to own a florist, and I bet we could have sold hundreds of dozens of these bacon roses for sure!
I think valentines is really just another non-holiday really, but it was handy when we had the florist shop
What a supercool idea! I love it! I was not really planning on doing anything for Valentine’s day, but now I am
. Love the Kevin Bacon picture as well. xx
Wow, what an idea, and I love bacon too. Not sure I can see my husband making these though! We do Valentines day but make it cheap and fun e.g you have to make something or if you buy something you can’t spend more than $5. We’ve had lots of fun with those rules over the years.
I love this, Both funny and great for valentines. Mr Glam and I don’t necessarily give a present although I often make or bake him something and he takes me for dinner somewhere fab. One year it was The Fat Duck! Romance is always good and a gentle annual reminder has to be a good thing. GG
You. Are. Amazing. These are gorgeous, although I’m not sharing this post with Mr Moodie Foodie – I’ll be making bloody bacon roses every day:) xox
Haha bacon roses!!! You always manage to come up with something completely out of the box. I’ve never seen “roses” so tasty.
I don’t buy valentines gifts, but I am making my special someone a special dinner and dessert to show how much I care. And I get to enjoy it too!
Hilarious!!
Will definitely be making these!
I don’t know about this. It’s a novel idea though. Love the picture of Kevin though.
An absolute riot and yet perfect too. I’m laughing and craving at the same time!
Oh, my, Lorraine, you’ve outdone yourself again. So quirky and fun. And, of course, they must taste delicious.
OMG this is so clever! Bacon roses! I have never in my wildest dream imagined of receiving bacon in the shape of roses hehe
I definitely intend to give Ricky chocolate and don’t think it’s a load of rubbish, because hahaha I love Valentines day
Spread the love! hehe
This is SO sweet Lorraine!!! Love the idea. You are super cute to do that for your hubs.
Haha they’re brilliant. I saw this in a magazine and thought it looked like a great idea!
What a weirdo. There used to be a lady at my local market with enormous bosom she boosted up so high they were near her chin and she’d wear bright red lipstick that extended her mouth like a clown. It was very hard not to giggle!
This is hands down the greatest thing I have ever seen. My boyfriend and I share a mutual love for bacon – him even more so. This is what I shall be presenting him with on Thursday. It will be the greatest present I could ever give him – thank you!
Brilliant idea – and the perfect way to a man’s heart!
…OH MY GOD.
I’m pretty sure that my boyfriend isn’t going to buy me roses this year (I only got them last year because he was overseas for V Day!), so maybe I should send this to him as a suggested replacement…
What creativity! I bet so many people out there would want these delivered to their work
Well that’s clever! I’d eat those.
Oh these are totally perfect – Craig would think they were funny and delicious waaay better than real roses (seriously I would never buy him real flowers – not his thing)
I think Valentine’s Day is a load of rubbish, but these are brilliant! Love it!
What will they think of next? These look so cute. My mother would kill me if I put holes in her baking tins – so it was a wise move on your part not to.
OMG – Roses Only, eat your heart out!
Non-veg edible roses. Very creative, and you don’t have to water this one to keep it fresh. And if consumed in sufficient quantity, it will get to the heart in two different ways!
Eeew at the guy who approached your friend and her sister, I would not have taken the incident with such humour, that’s just gross. On a different note, Mr NQN is so lucky to get these for valentines, I assume that he will be? That is unless you beat him to it =P
Everything is indeed better with bacon, TRUE!
I LOVED this idea! VERY creative too!
Valentine’s Day is WAY too commercialized, WAY overdone!
We celebrate and appreciate each other every day as after all, isn’t life about enjoyment and fun?
That is a genius idea Lorraine! Definitely for the boys who will sure to enjoy Valentine’s Day for once after that gift!
Hi Lorraine,
What does ‘Paramour’ mean in your world?
Oh, God. I’ve just shown this to my boyfriend and told him: THIS is what I want for Valentine’s.
Eheheh How creative!
That’s my kind of flower!
Hahaha! the bacon lovers out there will love you for this. We won’t be giving chocolates but we are going to Pony Dining at Eagle St Pier and staying in the Brisbane CBD over night after- yeaaaaahh!! What are you doing for V Day?
How fantastic! I love it and would eat every petal!
Oh my – you are so brilliant! This is the best and creative valentine’s idea ever. Love it!
Everything is better with bacon!
Haha this is one of the most brilliant Valentine suggestions I’ve seen this year. So cool, and who doesn’t love bacon?
What a beautiful valentine my friend – bacon forever for non veges!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Instructbles is awesome for all sorts of quirky food ideas, love that site. The bacon roses were a cute idea and you did a fantastic job at them.
Too funny and mega delicious
might have to serve mine with some runny eggs.
Awww excellent and you did them so well! I just KNOW mine would turn out looking like a pile of paella!
Interesting!
Valentines day will just slide by like any other day.
great bacon creativity – I love the photos – would love to make it vegetarian but not sure it would work
Super idea, Lorraine. Bacon roses trump flowers in this house! Here’s a funny you can attach as a card when gifting to your loved one.
http://funny-pictures-blog.com/2012/12/21/true-love-4/
Perfect! My friend is going to love these
My husband would love these!!!
oh my! lovely idea!
Bacon. Bacon + maple syrup. And made into ROSES! Genius.
I would so prefer this bouquet to roses on Valentine’s! And love the bacon K. Bacon portrait!
The Kevin Bacon is terribly creepy but the roses are adorable. I think a zillion men would love getting them and get a good laugh opening the package.
Happy Valentines to you!
Beautiful and delicious…!!! Who can create this kind of thing? I mean, ok, you can bake bacon but then put it into the roses stems??? that’s amazing.
The ultimate Valentine’s bouquet! I love it. I agree with Deana, the Kevin Bacon out of bacon is so creative but oddly creepy.
Oh awesome! What a cute idea!!! Crunchy bacon roses… delicious and pretty!
Lorraine this post made me laugh so much. Bacon roses, and Kevin Bacon art made out of bacon…that IS a Happy Valentines Day
You are one crazy lady!!
Bacon roses LOL!
…having said that Mr GG would love this
Haha this is brilliant! My boyfriend and I normally do small gifts as well. Chocolate seems a little boring to do year after year, unless it’s homemade or something
These look fantastic and I’m drooling just at the thought of how they must taste. What a fabulous idea for a Valentine bouquet!
AS somewhat of a bacon connoisseur you have outdone yourself. Nothing says love like a bacon bouquet! Bravo!
I have streaky bacon in the fridge… Huzzah!
Oh this is just far too funny!
i won’t be giving chocolate, but i wouldn’t mind getting some.
this is a brilliant idea!
That is just too cool!
This, truly, has to be the best food idea I have seen! I would love to be woken up with a bunch of these…and possibly and box of assorted cheeses….
so cute!! i’d love to receive these!
I cut bacon in half and made tea roses. I put them on a microwave pan and used the microwave to cook. Watch as these cook faster. Yum.
just made these….looks fabulous and I’m going to surprise the hubby at work with his favorite chocolates and “roses”. thanks for the idea!
HI Melissa! FABULOUS!
What did he think of them? You’re very welcome!
I couldn’t wait to see how you made this when when I receive the email. My husband and I got super impressed looking at your step by step… You never stop entertaining us with your cooking skills Lorraine! I want these edible roses!
I know I’mto late this year but I am going to make a few for Easter. I just joined your page today love your ideas
HI Sharyn! That’s a great idea-and reader Ting just suggested covering them in chocolate!
I gave these to my husband after seeing them here. His face lit up with much joy.
What do you think about chocolate covered bacon roses NQN?
Hi Ting! I think that’s a great idea!
Very creative indeed-and Easter is coming up too 
You crack me up girl! Bacon roses!?! But when you think of it its such a logical gift for our men, they don’t want flowers and what man doesn’t want bacon!?! Ingenious!
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