Maple Bacon Roses
For two dozen roses
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24 rashers of streaky bacon
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Non stick oil spray
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24 pins
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A metal cake cooling tray
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Baking tray
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1/3 cup maple syrup
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2 bunches of plastic roses (24 roses in total)
Step 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.
Step 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.
Step 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?).
Step 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 ;)).
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.
Step 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!