For most people these will probably not actually qualify as “breakfast food.” But as far as I’m concerned, it has eggs, maple, and milk. So it sounds like breakfast to me.

And it looks, smells and tastes like breakfast too.

I haven’t made cupcakes in forever. Truth be told I had to hunt for my supplies; I couldn’t find any of my pastry tips or pastry bags. Ugh. But I figure since I’m having a baby now I need to brush up on those cupcaking skills for future bake sales. Ya get me? I mean, who can compete with me? Not to mention all those birthdays. Plus… my old photos are… kinda sucky. I’d like to go through all my old cupcake recipes and redo them.

The first time I made these cupcakes had to be 10 years ago. I found them over at Bake & Destroy and I knew they’d be something I’d need to keep in my recipe book forever. And it’s true, they are. They’re classic. They taste like waffles, pancakes or French toast, depending on who you ask (or what the name of them is when you read it). I like to pair them with a cream cheese frosting because it offsets the flavor nicely. I think maple frosting is a bit much for these, but if you’re super into maple then hey, do you. A plain buttercream is okay too, however I find that a bit too sweet. These cupcakes do enough of that on their own. Cream cheese cuts through the sweetness in a nice way. I also make my cream cheese frosting with salt and butter, which helps the flavor. I’ve seen some recipes that just use cream cheese, and that ain’t right folks.

So before we go any further let me state: I DID NOT MAKE THE TINY WAFFLES. I know, they’re the cutest things ever but I didn’t make them. They’re crispy waffle cookies from Stew Leonard’s. In previous years I’ve thought about topping them with all kinds of things, but I only ever used bacon. And yes- that was amazing. Anyway, the great thing about these little mini waffle cookies is that they aren’t too sweet. So they, too, offset the sweetness in a nice way. Not too overpowering.

The “maple syrup” on top is just a little maple extract mixed with confectioners sugar and a bit of milk to thin it. Easy. No great shakes. Just a cute little addition. I did half with this and half without.

WAFFLE CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and then cooled
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp maple extract
• 1/2 cup 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. Frost when cooled.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Directions:

• 4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• a pinch of salt
• 2  1/4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

Then you:

1. In a bowl, with your electric mixer on medium high speed, beat together cream cheese, butter and salt until creamy.
2. With mixer on low speed, make 1/2 cup additions of sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Increase the speed of your mixer between each addition.
3. Frost cooled cupcakes.

The color of the cake will vary depending on the brand of maple extract you use. Some are darker than others. It means zilch and you’re not doing it wrong if yours come out a darker brown color. When I use Watkins extract mine always come out darker than if I use McCormick, etc. And that’s 100% cool. No one cares. Trust me.

I also have no idea why I photographed these in a skillet. You don’t make waffles in a skillet, you make pancakes in a skillet. What is wrong with me? I guess trying to be cute combined with pregnancy brain equals stuff that doesn’t make any sense. Hah!

Suggestions for use: They’re cupcakes- eat them.

Soundtrack: Rain hitting my window.

Sources & credits: Cast iron skillet; Pioneer Woman for Walmart, brown cupcake liners; Layer Cake Shop, large closed star frosting tip; Layer Cake Shop.