I dream about Maple Bacon Bars pretty regularly. Funny enough, I had never really had one before I made them myself. I had just seen pictures of them and imagined how amazing they would be. Turns out, they did not disappoint.
What is not to love about a doughnut covered in a homemade maple frosting and sprinkled with bacon?
Steve was away this past weekend when I made these…whoops 😉 I got them all to myself! Well my mom and dad each ate one and then I brought them to our CrossFit box to corrupt all of our paleo friends. No one can resist maple bacon bars in that place.
The recipe is a pretty simple doughnut dough. The frosting is super easy to whip together. I added maple flavoring to make it extra mapley (a real word?). And the bacon, you can oven bake like I do in this oven baked bacon tutorial! Or you can always just cut it up and cook it in a pan!
- 1 package of active yeast (or 2 1/2 teaspons)
- 1/4 cup of lukewarm water
- 3/4 cup of milk, scalded
- 1/4 cup of butter
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- about 3 1/2 cups of flour
- 6 slices of bacon, cooked until crisp, and chopped
- 2 cups of powdered sugar
- 3 Tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon maple flavoring
- 1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
- 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 Tablespoon of butter, melted
- Soften the yeast in the lukewarm water.
- Combine the scalded milk (make sure not to boil the milk!), sugar, butter, and salt. Let it cool until it is lukewarm.
- Place the milk mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add one cup of the flour and mix to combine.
- Add the softened yeast and beaten egg. Add in the remaining flour.
- The dough will be soft. Using the paddle attachment, knead the dough until smooth and satiny (about 5 minutes).
- Place the dough in a greased bowl (turn the dough in the bowl to grease all sides)
- Cover with a towel and let them rise until double. It should take about an hour.
- Punch the dough dough and let it rise again for another 30 minutes.
- Cut the dough into two balls. Roll out each ball into a a rectangle that is about 1/2 inch thick. Cut each rectangle into 6 rectangles. Separate the bars on a piece of parchment paper. Cover then and let them rise another 30 minutes.
- Heat the oil in a large dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot to 375 degrees. Fry about 2 bars at a time, until brown on each side. Drain on paper towels and then place them on a cooling rack.
- Whisk together all of the frosting ingredients. Let the doughnuts completely cool and then spread the frosting over each bar. Sprinkle with bacon and serve!
- They are best eaten the same day they are made!
I'm a country girl at heart. I tried living in the city and it just didn't work. Welcome to my ramblings as a teacher and wife. 
These bars sound scrumptious! Maple Bars were my favorite donuts when I was a child. Now – I am super excited to see this gourmet style with bacon, and I am in love. =) Thanks for sharing this recipe! Yum.
Thanks, Aarika!!!