Tag Archives: bacon

July 11, 2012 · 5:00 am

Bacon Cupcakes – Take 3

Does a six-month-old blog need 3 bacon cupcake recipes?  Obvi, yes!!!!  The first bacon cupcake recipe was just an ice breaker, it showed me bacon cupcakes are totally the way to go!  The second bacon cupcake, Man Cupcakes, was a total expression of the awesomeness that is a bacon cupcake!  Despite the Man Cupcakes’ deliciousness, it had a lot of breakfast overtones and I wanted to dial down the cinnamon and up the bacon. This third bacon cupcake does just that!

Replacing the butter with bacon fat adds fantastic flavor that really raises the bar when it comes to the overall bacon-ness of the cupcake.  I worried the cupcake would be too fatty, but it wasn’t and the cupcake was still tender, light, and moist.  The bacon fat adds a rich saltiness!  If you’re looking for a less salty cupcake leave out the salt.

The frosting is so amazingly sweet and delicious!  There is just the right hint of maple without being too sweet or overwhelming.  The sweet frosting pairs really well with the saltier cupcake.  And of course, the candied bacon on top is the perfect decoration and accompaniment to this beauty!

These cupcakes were made by special request for Jackie.  She wanted to surprise her husband, Justin, for their first anniversary. Get it?  Paper cupcake liner because paper is traditional for first anniversaries, genius idea!  Justin is lucky to have such a wonderful wife!!  Justin views my cupcake photos on Facebook and has been asking me to try one. When he asked me again about bacon cupcakes the day before I was scheduled to make them I had to completely avoid looking at Jackie so I wouldn’t ruin the surprise!  It’s really fun to bake when you know the person receiving the baked goods is going to love them!!

Print the recipe.

Bacon Cupcakes
adapted from my standard vanilla cupcakes
Yield -18 cupcakes

6 pieces bacon, cooked extra crispy
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons cooled bacon fat (I had been saving this bacon fat in the fridge)
2 eggs
1/3 cup non-fat Greek yogurt or sour cream
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
2/3 cup whole milk

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Saute the bacon on the stove top until it is extra crispy.  Let cool on paper towel.
  2. In the bowl of a mixer add the sugar, flour, powder, soda, and salt, mix slowly with the paddle attachment.  Add the bacon fat and beat for several minutes until the mixture becomes nice and crumbly.
  3. While the mixer is mixing, whisk together the sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla.  Pour this in the mixer and combine.  Scrape the mixing bowl as needed.
  4. Slowly add the milk in and turn on high for a few seconds.
  5. Crumble up the bacon and mix in.
  6. Use a standard ice cream scoop and place the batter into lined cupcake pans.
  7. Bake 14-17 minutes until a toothpick in a center cupcake comes out clean.  Cool on cooling rack.

Maple Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes, page 304

5 large egg whites
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup, grade B
pinch of salt
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

  1. Place the bowl of your stand mixer over a small pot filled with a little water to use as a double boiler.  Add the egg whites, sugar, maple syrup, and salt to the bowl.
  2. Heat and whisk the mixture until it is frothy and there is no grittiness between your fingers when you feel the mixture.
  3. Move the bowl to the mixer and beat on medium speed until stiff peaks form and the bowl in completely cool to the touch.
  4. With the mixer running, add in the butter one tablespoon at time.  The mixture may separate, but just keep beating and scrape down the bowl every now and again.
  5. Add the frosting to a piping bag with a large star tip and then top with a piece of candied bacon.

Candied Bacon
6 slices of bacon
6 tablespoons brown sugar

  1. Cover a toaster oven tray in foil.  Place the bacon strips on the foil.
  2. Spread 1 tablespoon of brown sugar over each slice of bacon.  Press into the bacon.
  3. Bake in the toaster oven for about 10 minutes.  Watch closely and rotate the pan as needed. Bake until the sugar turns dark brown and bubbly.
  4. Let the bacon cool slightly and then carefully move to a sheet of parchment paper to cool and harden.  Once cool, cut each slice into 3 pieces.
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May 28, 2012 · 5:00 am

Man Cupcakes

“Made for a man, fit for a woman.”

You could also call these, “Cinnamon-Maple-Bacon Cupcakes with a Cinnamon-Maple Buttercream topped with candied bacon.”  Love it or leave it.

Clearly there are not a lot of men in my life.  I live with women, am friends with women, and I work with mostly women.  So when it’s time to make a cupcake for a dude, I want to go all out!  These cupcakes were made in honor of Rob’s birthday.

When I last made Bacon Cupcakes, it was definitely an experiment where I just threw bacon into a regular cupcake.  Not these babies!  These were well thought out and bacon was incorporated three ways; bacon fat inside the cupcake batter, crumbled bacon side, and candied bacon on top.  I really wanted to play off of the breakfast-ness of bacon, a breakfast cupcake if you will.

The cupcake is an adaptation of Martha Stewart’s snickerdoodle cupcake.  The cake itself is very moist and tender with excellent cinnamon flavor.  The bacon fat adds a subtle flavor and extra moisture.  Using a recipe from a regional cookbook is a little wonky and the buttercream was a bit troublesome, but came out well at the end.  It’s a sweet and delicious frosting that is perfectly creamy.  Candied bacon on top is A-mazing!  This is not just a garnish, this is a requirement.

Print the Recipe.

Man Cupcakes
(Cinnamon-Maple-Bacon Cupcake with a Cinnamon-Maple Buttercream and candied bacon on top)
Yield – 15

Cinnamon-Maple-Bacon Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes, page 151

8 slices of bacon, cooked crispy
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3 tablespoons cooled bacon fat
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons maple syrup, grade B
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons milk

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
  2. Cook 8 slices of bacon on the stove top, cook until extra crispy and then cool on paper towel.  Pour the bacon fat into a container and set aside.  (I put mine in the freezer to cool faster)
  3. Sift together the flours, powder, salt, and cinnamon onto wax paper, set aside.
  4. Cream together the butter, bacon fat, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.  Beat together until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs in one at a time and then beat in the vanilla and maple syrup.  Scrape down the bowl as needed.
  5. Turn the mixer on slow and add the flour in three additions with half the milk in between.  Mix until just combined.
  6. Crumble the cooked bacon and mix in by hand.
  7. Use a standard size ice cream scoop to place the batter in a lined cupcake tin.  Bake 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  8. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Candied Bacon
5 slices of bacon
5 tablespoons brown sugar

  1. Cover a toaster oven tray in foil.  Place the bacon strips on the foil.
  2. Spread 1 tablespoon of brown sugar over each slice of bacon.  Press into the bacon.
  3. Bake in the toaster oven for about 10 minutes.  Watch closely and rotate the pan as needed. Bake until the sugar turns dark brown and bubbly.
  4. Let the bacon cool slightly and then carefully move to a sheet of parchment paper to cool and harden.  Once cool, cut each slice into 3 pieces.

Maple-Cinnamon Buttercream
Adapted from The Official Vermont Maple Cookbook, 3rd Edition, page 24

Yield – barely enough for 15 cupcakes, (if you like a lot of frosting, I upped the recipe by 50% in parenthesis & in red – you could always use the extra frosting for pancakes!)
1 cup maple syrup, grade B (1 1/2)
2 egg whites (3)
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature (18 tablespoons)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (3/4)

  1. Place the maple syrup on a small pot on the stove.  Boil until it reaches 235 F.  It starts heating really fast and then goes slow at the end.  Do NOT stir, just leave it alone.  Meanwhile, add the egg whites to the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
  2. Once the maple syrup reaches 235 F, turn on the mixer and whip the egg whites until they have soft peaks and are no longer foamy.  This takes about 2-3 minutes.
  3. When the maple syrup reaches 242 F, turn the mixer on low and slowly drizzle in the maple syrup.  Beat on high until you have stiff peaks.
  4. Add in the butter one tablespoon at a time.  Keep beating to combine everything and the frosting becomes stiffer.

My frosting went really liquidy at this point and I freaked out, threw everything in the fridge, and then started beating again.  I was about ready to throw it all away and start again, but then everything came together.   Sometimes you just need to beat the s&!t out of the frosting.

  1. Add to a piping bag and frost the cupcakes.  Add the candied bacon on top.

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April 11, 2012 · 5:00 am

Bacon Cupcakes

I have three darling students that serve as my monitors.  Last year they were my students and started helping me with bulletin boards, organization, and other such tasks and this year they asked to come and still help me as seventh graders.  These girls are awesome!  They keep me on my toes and it is an absolute joy to watch them turn from girls to young women.  I have been able to get to know them not only as students, but as people, and I am so excited about what their futures hold.  All three of these girls are bright, motivated, talented, generous, and just have a good head on their shoulders! These are the types of girls I hope to have someday as a daughter.

As a thank you treat, I told each girl to pick a day on my calendar and I would bake them something of their choosing. My first girl asked for bacon cupcakes.  Weird, I know, but so are middle school girls!  I was up to the challenge and I wanted to design a bacon cupcake that was simple and not intimidating.  I wanted to create a cupcake that had bacon flavor but wasn’t overwhelming.

This cupcake did the trick!  I used the ultimate vanilla cupcake recipe minus the vanilla bean seen here and here with a little crumbled bacon added in.  The cupcake was moist and tender with beautiful little bacon bits throughout.  There was a little cheating going on because I used the leftover vanilla frosting from the tie-dye cupcakes with bacon added.  The frosting was light and delicious and again, the little pieces of bacon were perfect!  However, I was not finished, this cupcake most definitely needed a garnish.  And with this garnish I have found a new love – candied bacon!  So simple, so sweet, so delicious!  This will not be the last of the candied bacon.

Conclusion?  Bacon cupcake success!!!  At first people were shy and intimidated, but then once Jackie was brave and took the first bite, the rest followed!  The student that requested the bacon cupcakes even proclaimed them “the best cupcake” she had ever had!  These puppies are good!  And the best part are all the possibilities these cupcakes have opened.  I hope to experiment further with bacon cupcakes.  There are a lot of ideas in my head!  My recent trip to Vermont will help me tremendously is carrying out these ideas!!

Print the recipe.

Bacon Cupcake
adapted Cupcake Project
Yield – 16 cupcakes

1 lb bacon
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup cake flour
1 1/2 tea. baking powder
1/2 tea. baking soda
1/2 tea. salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1/3 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
2/3 cup skim milk

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
  2. Place the 18-20 strips of bacon in a large pan on the stove.  Fry until the bacon is very crispy.  Let cool on a plate lined with several sheets of paper towel. (This will be for the cupcake and the frosting)
  3. In the bowl of a mixer add the sugar, flour, powder, soda, and salt, mix slowly with the paddle attachment.  Add the butter and beat for several minutes until the mixture becomes nice and crumbly.
  4. While the mixer is mixing, whisk together the yogurt, eggs, oil, and vanilla.  Pour this in the mixer and combine.
  5. Slowly add the milk in and turn on high for a few seconds.
  6. Crumble 10 slices of bacon into the batter and fold in.  Using a standard ice cream scoop, place the batter into lined cupcake pans.
  7. Bake 14-17 minutes until a toothpick in a center cupcake comes out clean.  Cool on cooling rack.

Garnish – Candied Bacon
6 slices of bacon
12 teaspoons of brown sugar

  1. Lay each strip of bacon on a foil covered sheet pan.
  2. Spread about 2 teaspoons of brown sugar on each strip of bacon.  Press in slightly.
  3. Bacon for 10-15 minutes checking often for doneness.  Rotate once during baking.
  4. Remove the bacon and let cool on parchment paper and then break into thirds.

Whipped Vanilla Frosting
Adapted from Can you Stay for Dinner
Yield – enough to decorate 17 cupcakes
1 cups whole milk
5 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste (you can substitute extract, but you won’t get the little, adorable and delicious vanilla bean seeds)
1 cups (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cups granulated sugar, NOT powdered!

  1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the milk and flour.  Keep whisking until the mixture becomes smooth and thick resembling pancake batter.
  2. Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla bean paste, and allow to cool completely.
  3. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy – the mixture will stay grainy, it’ll be ok, I was worried at first, too, but it really turns out wonderfully!
  4. Add in the cooled flour/milk mixture and beat until the entire frosting is light and fluffy.
  5. Crumble in 8-10 slices of bacon into the frosting, mix with a spatula.  Use a spatula to frost the cupcakes and then place a piece of candied bacon on top.

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February 29, 2012 · 5:28 am

Bacon Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Blue Cheese

I made this recipe almost a month ago for our Super Bowl party, but I forgot to take pictures due to the Blood Orange Margaritas.  This was a recipe was also chosen for the New Foods list.  These little dates are so good, it was not difficult to want to make them again!  A lazy Saturday is the perfect time to enjoy some delicious dates!  They are so good!!!!  Like really, really good!  If you are having a cocktail party or you want to make a fancy appetizer, please make these, you will not be disappointed!

One note about dates – all by themselves, these little guys are so delicious!  I didn’t even know if I would like them, but I do!  They are sweet and chewy, almost like candy, but they are not candy, dates are a fruit!

Print the Recipe!

Bacon Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Blue Cheese with balsamic-honey sauce
Yield – 24 pieces
Adapted from Simply Scratch

8 slices of bacon
24 dates, pitted and split open
4 ounces blue cheese, I used gorganzola
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
pinch of Kosher salt
2 grinds of black pepper

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F.
  • Split open all the dates, I used kitchen scissors to cut open one side.
  • Stuff each date with some blue cheese crumbles.
  • Cut each strip of bacon into thirds so you have 24 pieces.
  • Wrap each date stuffed with cheese in a piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick.
  • Place the dates on a wire rack (I used the rack from the toaster oven) over a foil lined baking sheet.  This is all for easy clean up.
  • Bake for 23-25 minutes or until the bacon is crispy.
  • Drizzle with the balsamic-honey sauce

Balsamic-Honey Sauce

  • Combine the vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper into a small saucepan on medium heat.
  • Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce reduces by two-thirds, stir frequently.

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