Maple

Maple Butterscotch Pudding

~ Lynn ~ 22 Comments

I’ve been really behind in my blog reading lately. There are so many posts and so little time!

This week I spent a few evenings catching up on some of my favourite blogs and came across this post by Jamie at My Baking Addiction. I started reading the post because A. I love her blog, and B. I’m obsessed with Cranberry Bliss Bars. But what really caught my attention was the contest. My Baking Addiction and Good Life Eats are giving away Kerry Gold Butter.

Yes, butter. My favourite ingredient. Clearly I had to enter.

All we had to do to enter the contest was post one of our favourite recipes that use butter. I racked my brain for something to post. For some reason everything I thought of had butter in the name, Buttered Rum, Buttered Popcorn, Butter Cookies. And then it hit me, Butterscotch!

There are a lot of butterscotch recipes out there, all fairly similar. For this recipe I based myself on recipes from David Lebovits and Joy of Baking. I decided to give this recipe a local twist by adding some Gelinotte, a maple liqueur made in Quebec, instead of scotch. Butterscotch does’t actually require alcohol, the name is believed to come from the words butter scorched.

Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and Good Life Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by KerryGold. Voting begins December 19th at 12AM. Please visit either site and vote for your favourite recipe (hopefully mine!)

Maple Butterscotch

  • 4 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted
  • 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 2 teaspoons Gelinotte Maple Liqueur (if unavailable use whiskey or rum, or omit the alcohol)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1. Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan. Stir in the sugar, maple syrup and salt. Set aside.
  2. In a small bowl mix the cornstarch with 1/4 cup of the milk until the cornstarch is completely dissolved. Whisk in the egg yolks.
  3. Slowly pour the remaining milk into the butter and sugar, whisking constantly. Then add the cornstarch mixture.
  4. Return the saucepan to the heat. Whisk constantly until the mixture starts to boil. Lower the heat and continue to whisk for one minute. The mixture should be quite thick.
  5. Pour into 4 serving bowls and chill for at least four hours.

Enjoy!

A Mothers Day Maple Cake

~ Lynn ~ 2 Comments

Happy Mothers Day!

My momma she loves me, loves me like a rock

And to thank her for all that love, this year I’m made her a maple cake. We talked about maple cake a few weeks ago. Apparently in the 80’s my mom had a piece of maple cake that she thinks about to this day. I have no idea what went into that cake, but I can make something that is full of maple goodness. This is  a joconde soaked in maple liqueur with maple butter cream. Janice made this cake for a birthday for a few weeks ago and got rave reviews. The joconde recipe came from Joe Pastry, and the butter cream is a Martha Stewart recipe. Soaking in the liqueur was Janice’s idea.

Joconde

  • 6 room temperature egg whites
  • 2 tbsps granulated sugar
  • 1 cup almond meal
  • 1 cup confectioners sugar
  • 6 large eggs
  • 5 tbsp all purpose flour
  • 3 tbsp butter, melted

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425. Grease 2 9 inch pans and line with parchment paper.
  2. Whip egg whites to soft peaks. Add granulated sugar and continue whipping till stiff peaks.
  3. In another bowl, add whole eggs, almond meal and confectioners sugar. Beat until light and foamy.
  4. Add flour, beat just until incorporated.
  5. Fold egg whites into the egg and flour mixture.
  6. Fold butter into batter.
  7. Pour into pans, being sure to separate evenly.
  8. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes, until the center of the cakes spring back when touched. Let cool for a few minutes in the pans then turn out on to wire rack to cook completely.

Maple Liqueur Syrup

Directions

  1. Bring sugar and water to boil in a saucepan.
  2. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes
  3. Add maple liqueur
  4. Brush over cooled cake layers.

Maple Buttercream

  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 1/2 cups maple syrup
  • 1 1/3 cup unsalted butter

Directions

  1. Using a standing mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk yolks until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes)
  2. At the same time, in a large saucepan, heat maple syrup till it reaches 240 degress. Keep a close eye on the syrup as it will bubble up quite a but while heating.
  3. With the mixer running, slowly pour syrup down the side of the bowl. Be careful not to splash the hot syrup.
  4. Mix until bowl is just slightly warm.
  5. Add butter in pieces, making sure each piece is thouroughly combined before adding the next.
  6. Ice cake.

The buttercream is ridiculously good. I had to stop myself from sitting down with the bowl and eating the leftovers with a spoon while watching the hockey game.

Enjoy!

PS: I know the song is about a boy and his mom, I just think it still applies.

PPS: Please don’t laugh at my piping skills, I’m working on it!