Well, candy my bacon!

Baking + bacon = oh my goodness!

The latest project was not of the crafting variety. I baked a batch of French toast cupcakes with maple frosting and candied bacon. I'm thinking it could be the next great breakfast food.

Here's how you make this bit of wonderfulness happen:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 muffin tins with cupcake papers. Take a stick of butter out and put it into a bowl to come to room temperature (this will be for the frosting).
2. In a separate bowl, mix together a box of yellow cake mix, 3 eggs, 1 stick of melted butter, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and butternut extract, 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon, and a cup of milk. (I mixed it with a hand mixer of low-medium speed for about 3 minutes.)
3. Fill each muffin paper about 2/3-3/4 full of the batter then place the tins in the oven.
4. Bake for 20 minutes.
5. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and brush the top of each cupcake with pure maple syrup while they are still hot.
6. Let the cupcakes cool.
7. Turn the oven up to 400 degrees.
8. On a cookie sheet, lay out 4 strips of bacon. Let the bacon cook in the oven for about 8 minutes, then remove (you want it to be nearly done). Sprinkle some brown sugar and cinamon onto the top of each strip of bacon and return to the oven for 2-4 minutes. You want the bacon to finish cooking and the sugar to melt and glaze each piece, but you don't want the sugar in there long enough to burn.
9. Remove the bacon from the oven and let the strips rest on a plate to drip away some of the grease. You can use a paper towel, but be aware that pieces of paper towel will likely stick to the sugary bacon. When it's cool, you can chop it into bits to sprinkle on the cupcakes.
10. In the bowl with the stick of now room temperature butter, add 4 cups of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon  of maple extract, 1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup, and 3 tablespoons of milk. Mix together. If it's too thick for you, add milk a small splash at a time and mix till it is the consistency you like. If it's too thin, add a tablespoon of powdered sugar and mix until it is thick enough.
11. Your cupcakes should be cool enough to frost, so cover them with the frosting, then sprinkle the candied bacon on top of that.

These cupcakes are soooo good but super sweet and rich. I haven't calculated the calories or Weight Watchers points yet (I don't think I want to know), but am kind of glad that I can't eat more than one at a time. If you aren't a bacon eater, you could candy a blackberry or raspberry to put on top, but, seriously, just eat the bacon.

I'll return another day to tell more stories from the salted, cured trails of happiness.

Jenny