Pure maple syrup is a delightful ingredient. It’s versatile and imparts great flavor to all baked goods. Once my goal was to bake my way through most of the recipes featured in my maple syrup cookbooks. My two favorite books are NH Maple Recipes and Simply Maple from the Ontario Maple Producers. The notes I left in the margins show I made a good effort. Naturally the breads, bars, cookies, and muffins earned starred reviews. I leave a date by each recipe to show if it's a recipe I’ve made recently. To boost my chances for future success, I record comments about the ingredients or if the baking time in the oven was accurate. According to my notes, maple syrup pies can be tricky to judge when they’re done.
I tip the maple syrup jug heavily when I'm cooking certain vegetables. Butternut squash always goes to the table with maple syrup and real butter. Steamed carrots often get a drizzle of maple (or honey) and a shake of ginger. I could go one for another hundred words about my passion for baked beans with dark robust maple syrup, molasses, onion, dry mustard and black pepper. But I’ll spare you.
If you get the chance to pick up a maple syrup cookbook, I think you’ll be pleased with most recipes you try. I rarely frost a maple cake. It’s delicious just as it is.
Granulated dry maple sugar is a product we offer. This all natural sweetener opens up many additional baking ideas. I have a scone recipe that I quite often make with dry granulated maple sugar.
You can feel good baking with maple syrup because it’s a pure and natural ingredient. Now more than ever, I realize how important it is to use minimally processed ingredients. It’s always a gain for us when we can eat wholesome foods without added artificial ingredients.
The cookbooks I mentioned are typically only available at regional maple syrup supply stores.
