Pancake Cupcakes With Maple Frosting and Candied Bacon

Photo: Kita

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes

1/2 cup #flour

2 #teaspoon baking powder

1 #teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon #salt

3/4 teaspoon #ground ginger

1 stick #or

1/2 cup #unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup #light-brown sugar

2 #large eggs

1 1/4 cups #maple syrup

2 teaspoons #vanilla extract

1/2 cup #buttermilk

1/2 cup #walnuts or pecans, finely chopped

For the Frosting

1 cup of softened, unsalted butter

3 ounces of cream cheese, also softened

2/3 cup of dark-brown sugar (I use golden)

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup of maple syrup

3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 cup of confectioners’ (icing) sugar

For the bacon

4 #bacon slices

2 #tablespoons maple sugar, divided

Preparation

For the Cupcakes

Preheat your oven 350 degrees F.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ginger together. Set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar on medium speed in a large bowl until they are fluffy.

Add in eggs, syrup and vanilla. Mix until blended.

Then mix in the flour mixture alternating with the buttermilk. Do about one-third of the flour and then one-third of the buttermilk, and so on. Add the nuts if using.

Fill muffin or cupcake tins, either lined or buttered, according to your preference. Cook for approximately 20 minutes or until your tester comes out clean.

Cool totally.

For the Frosting

Beat the softened butter, cream cheese, brown sugar and salt in a medium-sized bowl until fluffy. Once again, it is critical that your ingredients be softened.

While you keep beating, add both the maple syrup and the vanilla.

Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar and gradually increase the speed to high. Continue beating until the icing is fluffy.

Chill the maple-butter frosting for one hour before using.

For the Bacon

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line rimmed baking sheet with foil. Place rack in center of foil. Lay bacon slices on rack. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon maple sugar evenly over bacon. Bake until sugar is melted, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon sugar over same side of bacon. Bake until bacon is deep brown and glazed, 12 to 14 minutes longer. Remove from oven.

Preheat broiler. Broil bacon until sugar on top bubbles thickly, watching closely to prevent burning, 1 to 2 minutes. Cool bacon completely on rack. Cut into 1/4-inch dice.