Bacon Lollipops

SWEET & SPICY, these are a crowd pleaser! There is eye candy . . . but this is BACON CANDY. Let's face it, every thing's better with bacon!

Ingredients:
1 pkg. bread sticks I use Alessi brand, there are 25/pkg.
10 bacon strips I use Blue Ribbon hickory smoked it is fairly thick
1 C brown sugar
1-2 T cayenne pepper
* Note: the amounts of sugar and cayenne do not need to be exact.
Yield: 20 lollipops

The ingredients are simple, it is the process that gets just a little bit complicated, and the outcome can be quite unpredictable, but I promise these are worth the time and effort. I have tried it many different ways and I think I finally found the perfect method.

Cooking Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Line broiler pan with foil or create one like I do by lining a rimmed baking sheet with foil, placing shallow ramekins or rolled up cigar shaped pieces of foil on the lined sheet and top with another layer of foil. Poke holes in the top layer of foil with a fork to allow the bacon grease to drain. Lining everything with foil will make for EASY clean up. Believe me, you will thank me later, throwing away some foil beats cleaning greasy sugar coated baking sheets any day.
On a large platter or a rimmed baking sheet spread brown sugar in an even layer so you can coat strips of bacon. ( I do a few strips with just the brown sugar an no pepper, because my kids love these, but not if they are spicy.) Sprinkle cayenne over brown sugar and mix with your fingers until combined. Place one slice of bacon at a time on the sugar mixture and pat sugar on to coat, set aside and continue until all 10 slices are coated. Cut each slice of bacon in half, I use my kitchen scissors for quick and easy cuts. Wrap each half slice around one end of a bread stick and place on lined baking sheet. Try to set the bread stick down so the bacon is tucked under and stays wrapped as tightly as possible. The bacon will shrink as it cooks, so as long as both ends are tucked under the bread stick it will stay wrapped.
Place the bacon pops in opposite directions on the tray, you can fit more this way and they cook more evenly. For example: Place the first one with the bacon going one direction and place the next one with the bacon on the opposite end so the bread stick is near the first pop's bacon end, repeat alternating the bacon end of the sticks. HOPEFULLY this makes sense!
Place baking sheet on the bottom oven rack and back approximately 30 minutes. Baking time may vary depending on the thickness of your bacon. The one I use is a thick cut, a thin cut bacon will take less time. You should also watch the oven closely, if you have too much sugar on the bacon it can start to burn and smoke easily. Rotate bacon half way through cooking process if necessary, I do, because my ovens don't always cook evenly. Once bacon is golden and the fat no longer looks greasy or white, your lollipops are ready! Remove from oven and allow to cool 5-10 minutes on the baking sheet. VERY IMPORTANT: leave them on the sheet! Don't worry if the bread sticks seem wobbly, they are not broken, they become soft during baking. They will firm up once they have cooled slightly. They are also VERY HOT, sugar will burn you.
Once they have cooled slightly, place on a serving platter or in a decorative glass. They are great while still warm or at room temperature.