Maple Bacon Bites

Wow. It has been a long time since we've done a blog. 

Life just gets a little crazy sometimes!

Anyway.... we thought we would come back and share these crazy maple bacon treats and try to get back in the swing of things! 

Why should you try these pretty little bad boys? Well.... bacon for one. And maple for two.

I think I've made my point. 

Make these in a tiny pan for the bite sized version - or in a tart pan for a slice-able version.

Either way... you win.

Maple Bacon Bites

(Ever-so-slightly adapted from Shugary Sweets) 

Ingredients

Base

1 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp maple extract

pinch salt

1 1/2 cups flour

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, room temp

2 cups icing sugar

1 tsp maple extract

2 Tbsp milk

Topping

Bacon, cooked and broken into pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray a miniature tart muffin pan with cooking spray (or tart pan - or 9 inch pan) Set aside.

Prepare base - In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar together until creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla and maple. Lastly, mix in salt and flour until well combined. 

Drop evenly into mini muffin pan OR spread into prepared tart/8 inch pan. 

Bake at 350 until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean and top is lightly brown.

Let cool 10 minutes then gently remove to completely cool on wire rack.

Let cool to room temp before preparing frosting.

Prepare frosting - In a mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy. Slowly beat in icing sugar a little at a time, maple extract, and milk. If too thick - add a little more milk. If too thin - add a little more icing sugar to get to spreadable consistency. 

Pipe or spread the frosting on top of the base.

You can make it as fancy as you like....

Now either crumble the bacon on top...

Or press a larger piece into each bite...

To fancy it up a little more (but also make it sweeter - FYI) you can drizzle a little maple syrup on top.

Totally not necessary though. It just adds a little somethin' somethin'.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

If you are going to make them ahead and freeze them - just leave the bacon off  and freeze them frosted. When ready to serve, top with the cooked bacon after you thaw the bites and you are good to go. 

Update - We served these adorable mini maple bacon bites at our nephew's fiance's bridal shower along with some mini scones and they were a big hit. Perfect for so many occasions! 

We're sharing at these fun linky parties - Adventures of Mel, Dizzy. Busy & Hungry, Carole's Chatter