I'm back to report on my Apple/Maple/Bacon Brittle experiment. My sister-in-law assisted and our families kindly agreed to be official tasters. We made half the batch with bacon and half without. It was okay. Not bad by any means, but not the mouthful of nirvana I envisioned. I had really high expectations, so even though it tasted pretty good, I was disappointed. 1) Substituting boiled cider for part of the corn syrup worked fine. The flavor was nicely apple-y but not overpoweringly so. However, none of us found it to be a flavor we'd ask for again in a nut brittle. 2) The bacon bites gave a nice "chew" and combined well with the apple & maple flavors. But once again, we didn't find it to be the "Whoa, I want more of that!" result I expected. We all liked the bacon-free version just as well. 3) Everyone except me thought it would have been better with pecans than with almonds. I dislike pecans, or I probably would have agreed. The almonds were nicely crunchy but their flavor was almost undetectable. Final result: If I want something that SOUNDS exciting and unusual (like for a neighborhood block party or a bake sale) I'll make this again because I think people would be eager to try it. But for our own family to enjoy, I'll stick to Mrs. B's recipe. Simplest is often best!

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