Root Beer Baked Beans

My kids LOVE baked beans. It's an obsession for them. If it were up to them, we would have baked beans at every single meal. Until I decided to go ahead and make baked beans myself, they were strictly Bush's Baked Beans snobs. Nothing but Bush's would do. I saw the "He Made - She Made" article in the June issue of The Food Network magazine and was completely inspired by the recipe by Aarti Sequeira. She uses a lot of indian spices (which my kids wouldn't likely take to in their precious beans) so this recipe is just loosely based on hers.

Root Beer Baked Beans
1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 large white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz tomato paste
3 - 4 cups Root Beer
1 T apple cider vinegar
2-3 T maple syrup
4 15 oz cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 c BBQ sauce
Pinch of red pepper flakes - to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Aarti makes hers in the oven - but it was so darn hot - I made mine in the slow cooker.

Cook bacon in skillet, remove when cooked and drain on paper towel. Reserve 2 T bacon drippings to cook the onion until translucent. Add garlic the last 30 seconds or so - until fragrant. Add bacon, onion and garlic to all the other ingredients in your slow cooker. Cook on high 3-4 hours.

*These beans were delicious the first night we ate them. They were freakin' fantastic - thinking about canning this and selling them good - the next night.