You prayed to the culinary gods, and they listened. No more is beloved bacon relegated to breakfast side item or burger topping. Forward thinking and pork loving chefs around the globe are recognizing bacon's potential as a dessert. Yup. Meat. For dessert.

And I'm not talking about bacon being served as dessert at greasy, side-of-the-road barbecue joints either. In a Time Magazine piece, they talk about trendy urban bakeries serving up bacon-laced treats like bacon cupcakes, bread pudding with bacon brittle, and a bacon chocolate crunch bar. There was even bacon ice cream churned out by contestants on Bravo's Top Chef. (Ben? Jerry? You listening?)

Why the sudden love of adding pork saltiness to sweets? According to the Time article: "Bacon works in dessert for the same reason peanut butter works with chocolate, or sea salt with caramel. Salt brings out the depth of flavor in desserts (try eating a salt-free brownie), and fatty foods are often cut by sweetness, like foie gras with Sauternes or fried chicken with honey."

And bacon has become the Jackie Robinson of dessert meats, opening the door for other entree staples to cross over as after meal treats. Like the foie gras surrounded by cotton candy served at Washington's Minibar and Los Angeles' Bazaar, or shrimp and salted caramels served at LA's Sona.

If you're thinking of trying some sweet bacon goodness at home, or whipping something up for your Valentine (because nothing says "I love you" like chocolate covered pork), Time has five recipes here.

And you can watch a video of chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of Los Angeles' Animal, throwing together a batch of their Bacon Chocolate Crunch Bar, here.