Amazing, soft breakfast muffins! These muffins are packed with sweet and salty flavors from maple syrup and crispy bacon. They are also topped with maple bacon streusel and crushed pecans.
If you told me just a few years ago that I would be craving maple bacon flavor combination, I would not believe you.
First time I encountered this flavor combination was when I worked at the Cracker Barrel and one of my customers poured maple syrup over her bacon. She noticed me stare at her plate in confusion and chuckled. “I guess you’ve never tried that before, have you?” she asked. I did not…and neither did it sound good at the time. I must have been 18 years old and not even close to be as adventurous as I came to be with food.
A few years passed (and I thought about it often) until I finally decided to bite the bullet and try maple syrup on my bacon. It was awesome! It actually became one of my favorite sweet and salty flavor combinations. Now, a few more years passed until I was brave enough to try bacon on desserts but maple syrup and bacon are almost inseparable at breakfast. That’s why I incorporated it in our morning muffins. These muffins have been very popular with family and friends and I urge you to try it for yourself.
Maple Bacon Streusel Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp sour cream
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup bacon grease collect from cooking bacon in the oven
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 6 crispy bacon strips crumbled
- Streusel:
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1/3 cup of flour + 1 Tbsp
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp melted unsalted butter
- 2 crispy bacon strips crumbled
- 3 Tbsp crushed pecans
Instructions
- You can cook bacon right before making muffins or ahead of time and just save some bacon grease. To make bacon in the oven: preheat the oven to 400. Cover a large cookie baking sheet with aluminum foil and layer bacon strips side by side, in one layer. Bake for 15 to 25 minutes. Remember, bake time will depend on thickness of bacon strips. Take out of the oven and drain bacon grease into a separate bowl. Set bacon strips aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 12-cup muffin pan with some baking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk egg, sugar, maple syrup, bacon grease, vanilla extract, sour cream and buttermilk until all smooth.
- Add flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk together until smooth.
- Add crumbled bacon and mix until evenly incorporated. Set batter aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, white sugar and flour. Mix well until all dry ingredients are incorporated evenly.
- Pour in melted butter and maple syrup, carefully fold/cut it in with a large fork. You will want to be careful so you don’t over-mix. Streusel should look like large crumbs and not paste.
- Fold in crumbled bacon and pecans.
- Fill muffin pan cups ¾ full with muffin batter.
- Sprinkle about two tablespoons of streusel on top of each muffin and place in the oven.
- Bake for 25-28 minutes (Do a toothpick test to check if they are done.).
Notes
Check out these great recipes from other bloggers:
Blueberry Peach Cobbler Muffins from Spoonful of Flavor
Peach Crumble Muffins from Deliciously Sprinkled
Banana Nut Oat Muffins from The Gunny Sack
Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins from Chocolate, Chocolate and More Chocolate
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More Recipes From Me:
Strawberry White Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake Muffins
Ashley | Spoonful of Flavor says
I LOVE savory muffins! I never would have thought to combine maple and bacon in muffins but I know hat I would love these. Can’t wait to make them this fall!
lyuba says
Oh no, this is actually a sweet muffins 🙂 That’s the beauty of them!
Thank you!
Joan Hayes says
Sweet and salty perfection right here, my kinda breakfast! *Swoon*
lyuba says
Oh yea! Thank you, Joan 🙂
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says
If I wasn’t a food blogger I would never have tried maple and bacon together. OMG I’m so glad I did! And I bet these muffins are the BEST – that streusel. Girl, I need it!
lyuba says
Awe, thank you!! Blogging is definitely helping me discover some new awesome flavors 🙂
Daphne says
These are definitely on my list to make again, everyone loved them. We did not eat them all the day I made them.Do they need refrigeration?
lyuba says
Hi Daphne!
If you’re planning on eating them within a couple of days, you don’t need to refrigerate them. I just like to heat them up in a microwave for a few seconds the next day, that way it’s nice and warm, and soft again.
You can also freeze them if you’re not planning on eating them anytime soon. Here is a good way to freeze muffins: http://www.momables.com/how-to-freeze-muffins/
Toni says
My 15 year old son made these for Mom’s with muffins. According to his classmates he won the best muffin contest.
Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!!!!
I unfortunately didn’t get to try one, they went from the oven to the basket, to school.
But they smelled amazing and the um batter was good.
LyubaB says
Toni, I am so glad they loved them! Thank you for letting me know!
Leona says
I made a test batch of these before I made dozens for an event. Glad I did, my family tried them and everyone agreed that the batter needed more maple flavor. So I added a about a teaspoon of maple extract and they turned out perfect!