Bacon Maple Cupcakes

I'm a bacon kinda gal. And it shows. More than it should. Needless to say, I hopped on the bacon craze train once it came rolling through with no hesitation. I won't go down the bacon booze road, and bacon mints make me gag (I worked for the company that made them for a Christmas season right after high school, and I spent a few hours tagging them one day.. I smelled like bacon and mint forEVER afterwards..). Give me a good piece of bacon though, and I'm a happy camper.. Unless you've got more and you're not sharing.. 


Okay, enough with my trying to stop myself from rambling about how much I love bacon.. These cupcakes are not traditional cupcake. They're actually closer to a sweet muffin. But I'm okay with that. Mostly because there's bacon involved. Bacon makes everything better. 

Ingredients:


Cupcakes:
4 1/2 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 tbsp solidified bacon grease
1 egg
5 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp maple syrup
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/4 cup milk
1/4-1/2 cup bacon crumbles


Maple Glaze:

1 c powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla



Frosting:
1/2 c butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 tbsp maple syrup
2 c powdered sugar


Directions:


I'm going to paste the original directions here. They're better than I could ever give you, folks.


What you’ll do–
* 1) Cook some bacon in a fry pan (about 6 thick strips). Reserve the drippings and place in the fridge to solidify. Mince 1/4 a cup of the bacon. The chef should eat whatever is left to assure that the bacon is tasty.
* 2) Beat the crud out of the butter and solidified bacon fat ’till light and creamy. Add the brown sugar and maple syrup and beat well until combined.
* 3) Add the egg and beat until incorporated.
* 4) Sift the flour, salt, baking soda and powder together.
* 5) Add some of the flour and mix, then some of the milk, then continue to alternate the dry and wet ingredients, ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in the bacon. Taste and add more maple syrup, flour, or milk if needed for desired taste. Keep in mind the maple frosting is very sweet, and to add in very small increments for alterations as maple syrup in large amounts can break a cake batter.
* 6) Scoop into cupcake papers and bake at 350 F for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Be sure to rotate the pan after the first 15 minutes for even baking.

Now for my part:


For the glaze, mix glaze ingredients together in a bowl. Dip cooled cupcakes in glaze, let excess drip off, let set for an hour or so.

For the frosting, cream butter and vanilla. Add powdered sugar and maple syrup, beat to desired consistency. Pipe or spread onto cupcakes. Garnish with bacon pieces and/or coarse sugar.