Ministry of Bacon

You love French toast with bacon, but goodness knows it doesn’t really work that well as a party dish, or as something to snack on while you’re driving.  Wouldn’t it be great if it could be as convenient as, say, a cupcake?

[photo: livejournal/sweetkisses0530]

This is one of the most popular items to ever emerge from the Ministry of Bacon kitchens.  It was a smash hit in its appearance at a recent Charm City Roller Girls roller derby bout, and it was the star attraction at one of our Bacon & Beer Happy Hour events at Bad Decisions in Baltimore.  At the time, when asked for the recipe, we could easily give people a link to find the cupcake instructions on a great blog called Bake and Destroy…but alas, that blog is gone for good.  The recipe for the maple glaze still exists at its original source on LiveJournal…but we figured it’s about time to give you both recipes together.

UPDATE:  Natalie of Bake and Destroy has informed us that the blog is indeed alive and well, at a new home on the web.  We’ve added a link to that site on our “Other Delicious Blogs” blogroll; check ’em out for more delicioius recipes like this one!

First, the recipe for the French Toast Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted then cooled
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. maple extract
• 1/2 cup whole milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking pan with paper liners.
2. Mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Make sure the butter is cool or you’ll have scrambled eggs.
4. Whisk in maple extract and then alternate between whisking in flour mixture and milk. Make three additions of flour mix and two of milk. Beat until smooth.
5. Scoop batter into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown and tops spring back when lightly touched.
6. Cool the cupcakes on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.

And now, the recipe for the maple glaze!

Ingredients:

• 2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 tbsp. butter, softened
• 3-4 tbsp. milk
• 1/2 tsp. maple flavoring

Directions:

1. Combine powdered sugar, vanilla, maple flavoring, butter and milk.  (To make it even more maple-y, High Priestess Anna usually adds a decent amount of real maple syrup into the recipe.)
2. Stir well until the mixture has the consistency of a glaze.
3. Finally, cook up a ton of bacon till it’s nearly crunchy, then cut up the strips into teeny squares and sprinkle ’em on top of the frosting. (If you like, you can cook the bacon till it’s crunchy and just crumble it, but that may not be as pretty.)

[photo: blogspot/sckain]