Maple Bacon Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Do you know what Maple Bacon Cupcakes taste like?  Breakfast.  There's just no getting around the fact that when you put two cups of real Maple syrup into cupcake batter, it just brings you back to stacks of pancakes at the cabin. And do you know what stacks of pancakes at the cabin remind me of?  My grandpa.  When he was a young man, he worked as a lumberjack and the fuel of choice was stacks and stacks of pancakes.  And what goes with pancakes? Bacon. It's the perfect garnish for these breakfast-y tasting treats.

I'm still baking my way through Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book!  Despite my concern about putting a full two cups of maple syrup in the batter, I was not disappointed.  The cupcakes have a delicious, but not overpowering maple flavor.  Rather than Martha's Maple Buttercream (which involved egg yolks and candy thermometers), I made a maple cream cheese frosting because cream cheese frosting goes with everything and I'm in love with it.

I thought these were manly enough for Father's Day, 

but would also be great on a leave raking, fire crackling fall day!

But let's not talk about fall, yet. Tomorrow's the first official day of summer!

Maple Cupcakes

Based on a recipe from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Makes 24 Cupcakes

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 stick butter, room temperature

2 cups pure maple syrup ( I used grade A)

3 large eggs

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Sift together dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, cream butter.  Add maple syrup and continue to beat.  Add eggs, one at a time and beat, scraping down the sides of the bowl.  Add flour mixture and beat until combined.  Add milk and vanilla and beat until combined.

Divide among 24 lined muffin tins.  Bake for 17 - 20 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool before frosting.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes enough to Frost 24 Cupcakes

2 8-ounce packages Cream Cheese

1 stick Butter

1 teaspoon Vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon Maple Extract

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Mix Cream Cheese and Butter until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla, extract and salt.  Continue beating. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until smooth and cream.

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