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Sweet-savory combo tempts taste buds

By SHELLEY HANSON

Staff Writer

Bakers, chefs and food companies are always coming up with new fare to tantalize our tastebuds and one dessert trend — combining the sweet with the savory — still is hot.

One of the most noticeable parts of this has been the bacon craze. Locally, Mama C’s Bakery & Deli on Fifth Street in Martins Ferry offers a maple-bacon doughnut, as does Tina’s Sweet Celebrations on Zane Highway in Martins Ferry.

Leigh Ann Cionni, who runs Mama C’s with her parents Priscilla and Rocco Cionni, said her brother, Michael Cionni, came up with the idea after seeing similar doughnuts while living in California. She said the combination has been well received by Martins Ferry customers.

“I’ve had people come in and order six of them. I think because there is nothing else like it around here,” Cionni said.

Cionni confessed she is not big fan of sweets such as cakes and doughnuts, and she doesn’t love bacon as much as her other family members do. But there is something about the sweet/salty/savory flavor that speaks to her tastebuds.

“I really like the combination. It’s my favorite doughnut that we have,” she said.

If the doughnut form of the maple-bacon flavor isn’t enough to satisfy, one can visit a Bob Evans Restaurant to get another version of the trend. Locally and across the nation, the long-time eatery is offering candied strips of bacon for its customers. Bob Evans describes the treat as its “classic hardwood-smoked bacon with brown sugar. Sweet, smoky and definitely shareable.”

While sweet and savory dessert combinations may be new to the food scene, people have long enjoyed the sweet-salty combination in the form of candies. For example, Snickers and many other candy bars combine the flavors in the form of salty peanuts with sweet chocolate and caramel.

The new Whisk Bakery on National Road in Wheeling also offers a variety of specialty cake flavors including maple bacon, movie theatre and chocolate potato chip, according to its website, www.whiskbakeryandcatering.com.

Local home cooks may be familiar with the sweet and salty potato chip cookie. It has been featured for sale during recent Picnic on the Street fundraisers held by the First Presbyterian Church in Martins Ferry. The cookies were made by parishioner Carol Holmes.

Holmes said she got the recipe from the “Three Rivers Cookbook” that she purchased in Pittsburgh a few years ago. She said it is a simple and delicious cookie to make.

“It doesn’t take long to make or long to bake,” Holmes said. “I take them to my art class in Wheeling at the senior center. My sister likes them, too,” Holmes said.

Following is the recipe Holmes uses:

Potato Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 pound of oleo

1 cup of sugar

(cream together)

2 teaspoons of vanilla

1 cup of crushed potato chips

3.5 cups of flour

(combine wet and dry ingredients together)

Drop teaspoon-sized cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes

Sprinkle powdered sugar on top while hot; lay on paper towel to cool (Holmes says she cools hers on a wire rack)

Makes 8 dozen cookies.

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