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Love. There are so many expressions of that warmly felt feeling – poetry, flowers, cheesy movies, dinner dates, and a delicious overabundance of chocolate.

But, love in our household means just one thing when it comes to food…bacon.

Delicious crispy, thick, marbleized bacon.

So, it may come as a surprise that I personally do not like bacon. At all. In fact, I wasn’t even sure where to find it in our local grocery store. It took me 10 minutes to find!

But, when I (strangely enough) dreamed about these Maple Bacon Cupcakes, I knew that was what my Valentine’s Gift to my husband had to be. He was so excited when I told him about it he asked me about it all week. And then as the bacon started to cook he was sneaking in and expectantly waiting for a taste as if it were Christmas morning. Delicious Bacon-y love.

And..Oh my! I think I could have found my love for bacon yet!

These maple infused cupcakes are like a delicious breakfast treat all in one. With the salty sweet combo and the rich maple flavor, topped with the buttery maple frosting these cupcakes were so addicting.

I searched all over for a great Maple cupcake recipe. But, I found that many of them came out too sweet and added lots of sugar. So, for this version I modified the amounts of maple syrup (man, syrup can get expensive!) to create a light tasting maple flavor that accentuated the batter with frosting. So yummy! So, I hope you enjoy these and share the bacon love!

Maple Bacon Cupcakes



Maple Cupcake Batter:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoons ground ginger

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup maple syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

Maple Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 stick (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar

Garnish: Fully cooked bacon, cut into 1″ pieces or crumbled

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ginger. Set aside. Beat the butter and sugar together using a mixer set on medium speed in a large bowl until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, syrup, and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture by thirds, alternating with the buttermilk. Fill 18 lined muffin cups and bake until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool completely. For Frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add cream the cream cheese and butter and beat on low speed until smooth. Stir in the maple syrup and vanilla extract. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the confectioners’ sugar and mix until smooth. Frost cooled cupcakes and garnish each with a piece of bacon.

Sources: modified from Country Living’s Maple Cupcakes recipe and Ina Garten’s Maple Frosting recipe.