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As you may know, this week I'm focusing on maple syrup. I've made an appetizer and a main dish; now it's time for a dessert.Last week, I asked the foodies on Twitter for some of their favorite recipes that use maple syrup. I received several links to recipes and have made some of them. I dug through my pile of recipes that I wanted to try and found three recipes that I'd cut out from a variety of sources. This is a combination of the three.
Some interesting facts about maple syrup:
• Usually a maple tree is at least 30 years old and 12 inches in diameter before it is tapped.
• Tapping does no permanent damage and only 10 percent of the sap is collected each year. Many maple trees have been tapped for 150 or more years.
• Maple syrup accounts for 85% of the world's total supply (according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada).
• Depending on the size of the maple tree, it can have up to 4 taps.
• It isn't known why the sugar maple has sweeter sap with better flavor than other maples.
• Maple syrup contains a significant amount of the recommended daily allowance for potassium and calcium.
• Once the maple tree starts to bud, the sap becomes unsavory.
Recipe
Serves 6
½ cup (125 mL) maple syrup
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon (15 mL) pure vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, scraped
¼ cup (50 mL) maple sugar or packed brown sugar
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a baking pan with a double thickness of paper towels and put the ramekins in the pan. Fill a kettle with water and bring water to a boil.
In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, heat cream with syrup and scraped vanilla bean. Bring mixture to a boil. Remove immediately from the heat and let cool slightly.
In a bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla until combined. Continue whisking and slowly drizzle in a bit of the hot cream mixture to temper or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle. Keep whisking and slowly pour in the remaining cream mixture.
Skim any foam off the top of the mixture. Pour mixture into six 2/3-cup ramekins. Carefully place the baking pan into the oven. Then pour enough hot water from the kettle into the baking pan so that water comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
Bake for 35 minutes, or until the centers are firm but jiggle slightly. Remove ramekins from the pan and let cool. Cover each ramekin with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or longer.
To serve: Sprinkle sugar evenly over top of cooked and cooled custards. Using a torch, move the flame continuously over the surface of the ramekins until the sugar melts and becomes golden brown and bubbly. As it cools, it hardens.
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Tasting NotesThe maple flavor is very subtle in this dessert. I might add a touch more just to make it more prominent. I tried using maple sugar to make the brûlée, but it burnt too quickly. Regular sugar worked better. I love cracking through the brûlée and tasting the crunchy sugar and smooth custard together.
Other Maple Syrup Desserts
• Under the High Chair: Pudding Chomeur
• Nigella's Gleaming Maple Cheesecake
Other Crème Brûlée Desserts
• Dorie's Crème Brûlée
• Pumpkin Crème Brûlée
29 comments:
Wow, does that look amazing! Creme brulee is an all time fave of mine. I never can seem to locate maple sugar!
Another great maple recipe!! What a great week:)
I think that maple syrup and maple sugar and maple trees are something that we truly need to be grateful for -- how sweet and delicious they are.
the perfect crack-able top! very nice.
cheers,
*heather*
Yay for maple trivia!! These creme brulees are a perfectly sweet ending to such a wonderful maple series. They look absolutely delicious; you have me totally wanting a little ramekin of maple creme brulee right now!
I love maple syrup and I love creme brulee!
My fave maple syrup is the dark, woody kind. You can taste the tree. (In a good way!)
Maple creme brulee sounds wonderful.
I'm glad you wrote about this, because I wasn't able to find my maple creme brulee recipe and yours looks great!
Have you seen "Amelie"? Whenever I crack the top of a creme brulee, it reminds me of that character saying it's one of her favourite things. It's one of my faves too :)
Hmm, more maple flavor needed? How about serving it with a drizzle of maple syrup? ;) And I am mostly serious about it because I am nutso for maple syrup*. Looks deelicious!
* Doesn't mean I particularly succeed at eating breakfast, though. Sigh
That first picture looks so autumnal. I love creme brulee and this looks delicious.
Oh, Shari, I have loved your maple week! It's interesting, I started craving maple recently, too and picked up a couple packages of those DARE cookies - the maple ones. We used to vacation at Lake of the Woods every summer and those sweet maple leaf shaped treats remind me of those days.
Shari, you must be a wealth of culinary information! I love that you always include the history or a lesson about the dish/ingredients! The brulee looks beautiful!
This sounds fantastic- I have a recipe for wild blueberry and maple creme brulee that I've been meaning to try. Maybe that would be a little over the top...best to just start out with your recipe and then see if it needs any dressing up.
The burnt top in your photo is beautiful!
I had the same problem when I tried to top a creme brulee with maple sugar...Looks great though!
yeah, I'm so excited for mapling season! Looks like a great dessert
This looks great! Love all the maple themed recipes!
Our little neighborhood French bistro makes scrumptious creme brulees. It's so much fun cracking the sugar with the back of a spoon! Thanks for explaining the ins and out. Seems less intimidating now and I've wanted to make my own forever.
Yum, I love creme brulee... I love maple syrup... I'll bet putting them both together results in a wonderful combination. :)
Great post! Not only does the Maple Crème Brûlée look delicious but I really enjoyed those maple tree facts. You know how I am when it comes to food factoids.
Maple syrup sounds like such a natural flavoring for creme brulee.
Enjoyed reading about maple syrup trivia :)
boy-o, look at the crusty top. this looks so tasty, AND you got to play with fire. :)
you're trying to send me into a maple sugary coma, aren't you?
ah crackles. i forgot to put down my email address. can't win if you can't find me, right? ^_^
herophelia@yahoo.com
I really can't think of much that sounds better than maple creme brule. I want!
I had to link to this...it's maple month!
NAOmni
Mmm, that sounds and looks absolutely gorgeous, Shari!
A maple creme brulee, that sounds like a very nice plan... I'll try that, thanks!
I love Maple anything! I swear if I didn't have anything to put it on I could drink it...yummers!
Maple creme brulee is so good!
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