If you’ve been following my instagram at all over the past week, you will have noticed that I’ve been making some changes around the pinegate road maison. While I’m going to get into a lot of those changes in the upcoming weeks, I thought I’d indulge you in a creation that I’ve concocted over these trials. This recipe for bacon and maple glazed kale chips makes one of the most tempting snacks that I’ve ever had. When I made the first batch, I seriously stood over my oven and scarfed each and every one down before I could even stop myself. They’re really that good. On my second try I did a little documentation so that you fine folks could join me on my latest obsession.

When I first started making kale chips I turned to the always-trusty Smitten Kitchen.  When I tried these wonders I couldn’t get over them. The crunch, the taste, the vitamins! I couldn’t believe that these were real, and good for me. This recipe was an easy success and I quickly started to dream up devilishly foodie-crazed conceptions to make this staple something even more delicious, like that was possible. Enter my new love of bacon—I was a vegetarian for 10 years before a couple months ago—and a whole foods find that I was determined to use. That maple sugar is almost negative calories—which is code for the fact that it’s 18 calories per tablespoon and all natural. Crazy stuff!

Bacon and Maple Glazed Kale Chips:

Bake some bacon, and then prep your kale. Wash it, and then cut out the stems.

Once you have your fancy pile of kale strips you can either choose to cut them up into chip-like sizes, or keep them in strips like I did for that dramatic effect when styling. Doesn’t everyone style their kale chips? Yeah, thought so.

Your bacon should be about done by now, and when it is, you want to take your baked bacon and smother your kale in it. If needed, rub your kale around on the pan that the bacon baked on to get some extra grease. I promise you’ll only be getting about one teaspoon of bacon grease of your kale in total, but it will be the spreadyest of spready bacon grease that you’ve ever encountered—hello new vocabulary. Once you’ve done a good mix up in whatever fashion you fancy, just make sure that your kale is shiny all over. I always end up doing a little massage on each leaf. I realize that’s a tad creepy, yes.

Next, lay out that shiny goodness on the same tray that you baked the bacon on. Try to make one layer, but it’s ok if the kale does a little snuggling. Snuggling is always nice, don’t you think? After that goodness, sprinkle the kale with the maple sugar and a bit of sea salt. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

When these emerge out of the oven, please, try to contain yourself. Don’t be me, basically.

All photography taken by Kelsey Cronkhite for Pinegate Road.