Apple Bacon Cheddar Baked Sliders

INGREDIENTS

9 slices of bacon**

About 3 tsp brown sugar

Fresh cracked black pepper

6 slider buns

1 small Granny Smith apple, cored and sliced thin

4-6 slices of sharp cheddar cheese

**If using a very thin bacon, you may want to make extra.

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 and line a large, rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Layer raw slices of bacon on the prepared baking sheet, side by side, in one even layer.
Sprinkle a little brown sugar over each slice of bacon and rub it evenly. Grate some black pepper all over bacon slices.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. (Bake time highly depends on the thickness of bacon. Some bacon can take up to 23 minutes to bake. Make sure to check on bacon every couple of minutes after the first 13 min.)
Take cooked bacon out. Place a sheet of paper towel on a plate and lay bacon strips on the paper towel to soak up excess grease.
Set oven temperature to 350.
Cut slider buns in half, width-wise. Place bottom halves, side by side, in a baking dish.
Fold bacon slices in half and layer them over bottom buns. Each slider will have about 1½ slices of bacon.
Place 2-3 thin slices of apple over bacon.
Top apples with a slice of cheddar cheese. You can break slices of cheese to fit the slider bun if you don’t want the cheese to run off onto the baking dish.
Place top buns over cheese.
Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Note: **feel free to double or triple the recipe as needed.