Maple Bacon Cupcakes

You heard right. Maple Bacon cupcakes.

Don’t be so quick to turn up your nose at this one. “Maple BACON cupcakes?!” Yes, maple bacon cupcakes.

Think about it. You get a side of bacon with your pancakes, inevitably you slather your pancakes with a unhealthy dose of Pure Vermont Maple Syrup (get your Aunt Jemima out of my life) and the syrup mixes with the Bacon and that salty sweetness hits your lips and- BANG! – an idea is born. So, my friends, don’t knock it ‘till you try it. And always remember – everything tastes better with bacon.

 

Cupcake

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 ¾ cup flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp applewood smoked salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
4 oz. melted Ghirardelli dark baking chocolate (1 bar)
1 cup boiling water
1 small pkg pieces Vermont Smoke & Cure Maple Cured Bacon

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F, line muffin tins with cupcake liners.*
2. Fry all of the bacon, reserve drippings and allow them to harden. In a food processor pulse 5-6 strips into a fine crumble. Reserve remaining strips to candy and use as garnish.
3. Sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powder, and salt into mixing bowl add brown sugar. Stir to incorporate.
4. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. With a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix on medium/low speed until incorporated. Be careful not to over beat so that the finished cupcake consistency does not turn out bread-like.
5. In a double boiler melt chocolate. Add to cupcake batter along with 1 cup boiling water. Fold in bacon “bits”.
6. Ladle mixture into cupcake liners. Sprinkle each cupcake with a little smoked salt. Bake for 20 minutes (or until toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean)
7. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting

*Instead of traditional cupcake liners, I cut 5”x5” squares of parchment paper and pressed each square into the muffin cups to make more rustic looking liners.

Maple Bacon Buttercream
*as with all my frostings I eyeball my measurements so these are fairly accurate “guesstimates” I like my buttercream smooth, so I didn’t add any actual bacon. If you like textured frostings, by all means, add bacon “bits”.

Ingredients:

1 ½ sticks butter
4 tbs reserved bacon drippings (cooled)
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
4 tbs milk
¼ tsp. fine sea salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs maple syrup

Instructions:

1. In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment beat butter and bacon fat until light and fluffy.
2. Add confectioners’ sugar alternately with milk, stirring constantly. Add salt, vanilla, maple syrup and whip until light a fluffy, about 5 minutes.
3. Fill a piping bag fitted with a star attachment. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes in a circular motion.

GARNISH

Maple Reduction

In a medium frying pan, bring 1 cup of maple syrup to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Reduce by half.
Allow to cool slightly. Using a spoon, drizzle over cupcakes in a pattern of your choosing.

Candied Bacon

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Bring ½ cup of maple syrup to a boil in a medium fry pan. Boil 3 minutes. Toss remaining bacon strips in the maple syrup to coat.
Line strips on parchments covered cookie sheet and sprinkle with maple sugar. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool then break into pieces to top the cupcakes.