Directions

1. Start off by cooking the bacon. We want it to be room temp in time to top the cupcakes.

2. Rub your bacon with brown sugar and pepper and place it in the oven or pan fry it until crisp.

3. Move to the cooling rack and proceed with the cupcake recipe.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Prepare a cupcake tin with paper liners.

5. Cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the eggs and beat until smooth.

6. In a small bowl add crushed pecans, flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together making sure the dry ingredients are well combined.

7. Add the flour mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer and mix until combined, being careful not to over mix. Scrape the bowl and mix well to ensure everything is well blended.

8. Measure out the batter into the cupcake tins, you want them to be about 2/3 of the way full.

9. Bake until the cupcakes are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 15 to 20 minutes.

10. Let the cupcakes cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

11. While they cool, start the Maple Frosting.

12. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, start by creaming the cream cheese and butter together until completely smooth.

13. Add Maple Syrup and vanilla, mix until combined.

14. Add Powdered Sugar gradually, this will ensure the frosting is free from lumps and mixed thoroughly.

15. Make sure your cupcakes are completely cool before piping frosting.

16. Crumble the bacon to make bacon bits and sprinkle the bits on top of the cupcake. Finish them off with a drizzle of maple syrup.

17. Enjoy!