maple bacon cupcakes

make something a little different for thanksgiving this year. you know you want to. these cupcakes combine flavors that i used to believe should never be combined. gross. bacon and cupcakes? what is the world coming to?

welp, turns out it's delicious - so, don't knock it till you try it.

as a birminghamian, i had to make this recipe, included in southern living's big book of cupcakes. this recipe was provided by jan moon of dreamcakes, birmingham's local cupcakery (they've even got a cupcake truck!) holy perfect, right?!

for the cake:

1 cup butter, softened 

1 1/2 cups sugar 

4 large eggs 

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon salt 

1 cup milk 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

for the maple frosting:

1 cup butter 

1 (16-oz.) package dark brown sugar 

1/2 cup evaporated milk 

1/4 teaspoon baking soda 

1 tablespoon light corn syrup 

4 cups powdered sugar 

2 teaspoons maple flavoring

for the toppings:

12 cooked bacon slices, broken to pieces (super crispy!)

preheat your oven to 350 degrees. combine butter & sugar and beat until light and fluffy. add in eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. in a separate bowl, sift together flour, tabking powder and salt. slowly add flour mixture, alternating with milk, starting & ending with flour. add vanilla extract. be sure not to overbeat! spoon batter into cupcake tins & bake the cupcake for 15-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

for the frosting, melt butter in a heavy sauce pan over medium heat.  add brown sugar, stirring constantly, and bring to a boil. add evaporated milk, baking soda & light corn syrup. bring to a boil. remove from heat and let cool (this could take a while, but it's important! the caramel mixture needs to be 100% cool before you move on). once cool, beat in powdered sugar with an electric mixer. add maple flavoring. this frosting firms up quickly and is much easier to work with that way, so you may want to wait a few minutes before icing.

fry up some bacon, break into pieces for your topping, and voila!

i'm very excited to head to my parents house in fairhope for thanksgiving - it's going to be a wonderful weekend catching up with a few friends and family members. and nah, i'm not doing the black friday thing this year. i'll stick to online shopping, thanks.

i'm taking a little blogging break the rest of this week to enjoy the holidays - see you in december!

recipe via my recipes.