Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place a rack inside a large jelly roll pan. Place the pieces of bacon side by side on the rack.
Place into the oven and let bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and flip each slice of bacon. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.
Remove from rack and place on a paper towel lined plate. Let cool.
Reduce the oven heat to 275 degrees.
Line a large clean jelly roll pan (17¼ x 11½ Inch) with parchment paper. This will prevent any sticking.
Using an air popper, pop the ⅓ cup of corn kernels. You can also pop the corn kernels in a kettle with some vegetable oil. Keep the kernels moving and the lid on the kettle. I would use 1 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
Spread the popcorn on the large jelly roll pan that's lined with parchment paper.
Using scissors or a knife, cut the bacon into bite size pieces and place on top of the popcorn. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, add in the butter, brown sugar and maple syrup. Place over medium heat and stir until the butter and sugar is dissolved. Let the mixture come up to a boil and boil for 8 minutes without stirring.
Remove from the heat and add in the maple extract.
Drizzle the maple brown sugar mixture over top of popcorn. Stir the popcorn and flip it to help coat the popcorn.
Place in the oven and bake at 275 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir the popcorn again and flip it. Cover the popcorn as much as possible with the maple mixture.
Place back into the oven and bake for another 10 minutes. Stir and flip the popcorn one last time and set aside to cool. As the popcorn cools, the maple mixture will become crispy.
Notes
To store any leftover maple bacon popcorn, place in an air tight container or ziploc bag. Store at room temperature out of direct sunlight for up to 3 days.