Category: Recipes

Rustic Maple Apple Compote

Rustic Maple Apple Compote

Maple syrup and Vermont apples are a classically delicious combination. This recipe combines the two to create a chunky, rustic compote. It’s delicious on its own or serve with ice cream, yogurt and a sprinkle of granola or as a side with savory dishes. You can choose to peel the apples or cook unpeeled. Either way is delicious!

2 pounds apples, cored and cut into chunks

1/3 cup Couching Lion Maple Syrup

1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

juice of half a lemon

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan.

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Maple Sugar Blueberry Pie

Maple Sugar Blueberry Pie

August in Vermont means blueberry season! What better to do with blueberries than toss them with maple sugar and nestle them into a buttery crust? Baked until bubbly and topped with vanilla ice cream, you can enjoy one of life’s most delicious desserts. The blueberry filling recipe comes from my mother in law, Nancy Menard, who makes the most unbelievably delicious pies! The tapioca acts as a perfect thickening agent.

Begin by preheating the oven to 400 degrees. You’ll need a 9 inch pie pan.

For the blueberry filling:

1 tablespoon Minute Tapioca

1/4 c flour

1 cup Couching Lion Maple Sugar

6 cups blueberries

Mix the dry ingredients and then add the blueberries. Squish about a third of them with your spoon or fork. Let them sit while you prepare the crust.

For an all butter crust:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour.

2 teaspoons Couching Lion Maple Sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup chilled, unsalted butter

1/2 cup ice water

Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl or food processor. Add chilled butter and pulse the food processor or cut with a pastry cutter until butter resembles small peas. Drizzle in 2 tablespoons at a time of ice water. Pulse or stir the mixture after each addition. Continue adding ice water until a ball begins to form. Divide ball in two and store one half in the refrigerator.

Roll out the other half on a floured surface until it is slightly larger than the pie pan. Place in pan and add the blueberry mixture. Using the second half of pie crust, roll out the top on a floured surface. Either roll the top into a circle or experiment with slicing strips of pie dough to create a lattice. Press the edges firmly all around the pie.

Sprinkle a little extra Couching Lion Maple Sugar on top and place in the preheated oven. Place a cookie sheet on the rack below to catch drips. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and then reduce to 375 degrees. Bake for another 30-35 minutes until the crust is nicely brown and the filling is bubbly. Remove from oven and let sit for 30 minutes to cool. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Delicious!

Blueberry Maple Sugar Sauce

Blueberry Maple Sugar Sauce

Mix 1 cup Couching Lion Maple Sugar with 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries. Add 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil. Mash blueberries with a fork and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain mixture through a fine sieve and collect the liquid. Reserve the solids for use in a smoothie or spoon over ice cream. Store sauce in the refrigerator for up to a week. Enjoy!

Blueberry Gin Fizz: Mix 3 tablespoons Blueberry Maple Sugar Sauce with 2 oz gin and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Shake with ice and strain into a glass. Top with seltzer.

Spiced Maple Sugar Apple Butter

Spiced Maple Sugar Apple Butter

It’s fall in Vermont and that means fresh apples! We love picking apples at the local orchard, as well as experimenting with the wild varieties that grow around our farm. Macintosh and Cortland are two of the most common and readily available apple cultivars. However, the Northeast is actually home to over 7,500 cultivars, many of which were developed over 400 years ago. Our fields and woods are filled with apple trees that bear fruit resembling the Golden Russet,

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Maple Sugar Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Maple Sugar Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Late May brings us abundant rhubarb and the season’s first strawberries. My grandmother had a huge patch of rhubarb and when my family sold her house, I brought part of it to my garden. I have many plants that are special to me based on their history in someone else’s garden. The rhubarb ties me to my childhood, and cool spring nights, visiting my grandparents in Huntington.

You can use any crust recipe you like.

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Maple Sugar Strawberry Sauce

Maple Sugar Strawberry Sauce

It’s May in Vermont and the stores are packed with strawberries. Our own local strawberries won’t be available until June, but it’s hard to resist buying this delicious little fruit as soon as it becomes available. This sauce can be used in a myriad of ways. Try it over cheesecake, ice cream or Greek yogurt. It’s also a fantastic addition to savory dishes. Serve it alongside a roasted pork loin or on a cheese platter.

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Smoked Pulled Pork With Chipotle Maple Barbecue Sauce and Maple Sugar Buns

Maple Spice Rubbed Smoked Pulled Pork Smoked Pulled Pork served with Maple Sugar Hamburger Buns and Chipotle Maple Barbecue Sauce

This smoked pulled pork takes several hours to make, but will also last several meals (maybe!). Right now we are obeying our governor’s order to stay home, so it feels especially satisfying to spend so much time creating something this delicious. I use a very simple Weber Grill, charcoal and water soaked apple chips.

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Salted Maple Sugar Caramel Popcorn Crunch

Salted Maple Sugar Caramel Popcorn Crunch

This treat is simply other worldly. It’s a delicious combination of salt and sweet, punctuated by the pleasing crunch of popcorn and peanuts. The Salted Maple Sugar Caramel is a delicious addition, adding the flavor of caramelized maple. This treat is excellent as a packaged gift. Drop some off on a neighbor’s porch, bring a bag to a friend who needs a lift or make a big batch and drop it off at your favorite local hero’s place of work.

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Chocolate Maple Sugar Babka

Chocolate Maple Sugar Babka

We are five weeks into quarantine and teaching from a distance and things are feeling hard! Just in the nick of time I came across a recipe for chocolate babka on the Food and Wine site. I adapted it to include maple sugar and maple syrup and the results are spectacular. The dough sits in the fridge overnight and then needs to rise for 2 hours the next day.

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