For today, my One New Thing is learning to substitute maple syrup for refined sugar in baking. If you are interested in learning how to do this, visit Michelle at Souly Rested, where you can print out a free conversion chart to help you do it right. I took a screenshot to show you what it looks like.
Now I realize not everyone has a "free" source of maple syrup like we do. And ours, of course, isn't really free. Family members work hard to produce it.
If you read Michelle's post you will see that maple syrup has a lot of minerals and other health benefits, so it's really worth your while to learn to bake with it. She has many other great-sounding ways to use maple as well, including maple kombucha which I plan to try very soon. If you are so inclined you can even learn how to make your own maple syrup!
Ordinarily when we are on a sugar fast as we are now, I just don't make very many baked goods. But recently I found myself with some truly overripe bananas that just had to be used up, and I didn't want to take time to research a healthier recipe online. So I adapted a banana muffin recipe, and we just couldn't be more pleased with the results.
BANANA WALNUT MUFFINS
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Heat oven to 350º. Line 12 muffin cups with either foil liners or parchment liners. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Add the bananas, maple syrup, oil, and eggs and beat on low speed until mixed. (I actually used a whisk.) Stir in the walnuts.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 350º until tops of muffins spring back when touched lightly, about 23 minutes. Serve warm.
Have you ever tried substituting pure maple syrup for refined sugar? If not, I encourage you to give it a try!
I would LOVE to be able to do this, but alas! We do not have a source for pure Maple Syrup here in Florida...and it is very expensive to purchase. We enjoyed the pure maple syrup when we lived in NH and Maine, as we had friends who shared their bounty with us. I miss it. Now I just have to be content with Log Cabin syrup as it doesn't use any High Fructose Corn Syrup in its recipe. Sometimes I make my own with sugar and maple flavoring. I know, not the same at all, but it's better than nothing. I bet your muffins were great. Wish I could try them!
ReplyDeleteI agree, pure maple syrup is outrageously expensive. If we didn't have a stash of the backyard maple sugaring output, we wouldn't be having it either ... or very seldom.
DeleteFor years I made a homemade brown sugar syrup. To me that tastes more real than any "fake" maple syrup brand. My granddaughters always called it "Grammy's Homemade Maple Syrup"!
It is Caution for me having maple syrup around. :)
ReplyDeleteMaple syrup over vanilla bean ice cream is a winter treat.
Oh, yes!
DeleteI'm not a big fan of the taste of maple syrup, but a gal we know makes it (even tapped our trees last year), and I kind of enjoyed it knowing from whence it came. I'm curious if baked goods made with maple syrup have the taste of it. I have a "healthy" banana bread recipe that uses honey. It's considered healthier because honey has a lower glycemic index measure for measure (if I'm remembering correctly). I should make that this week. I have some ripening bananas. Anyway, I'm also not a huge fan of honey, but I don't taste honey when I make this bread. It also isn't very sweet, which is not a bad thing. So back to my question about whether or not baked goods made with maple syrup taste like maple syrup.
ReplyDeleteI'll try and answer your question. I'll start by saying I’m not a huge fan of honey, and to me many baked goods made with honey do taste too strongly of honey for my liking.
DeleteWith the maple sweetened baked goods, it seems to depend on other flavors in the recipe. For example, I make a chocolate cake and a healthy chocolate frosting sweetened with maple, and I can’t taste it in either of those. I didn’t taste maple in these banana muffins either, but then banana is a very strong flavor.
But when I substitute maple syrup for sugar in my cornbread recipe (and I think it’s only 1/4 cup), I do get a faint maple flavor. Cornmeal is pretty bland, so I imagine that’s why.