The Joys of Maple

Admitted!  I have a sweet tooth.  When my physician told me to lay off sugar, I had to ask if that included maple syrup? It was the first time I made him smile.

There are two flavors of ice cream that seem to belong to New England;  black raspberry and maple walnut.  My heart beats just a little faster when I see them on an ice cream blackboard of available flavors.  Yesterday it was time for maple walnut, my favorite.  Give me anything with a maple flavor and I’ll sit at your feet and beg.  I’m not sure why these flavors haven’t made it to other USA locations.  Probably just ignorance of how good they are!

There was a break in the usual very long line at a local ice cream shop called The Juice Bar, yesterday.  Curiously, it was my husband who suggested we have ice cream as we exited The fascinating Whaling Museum. Who am I to disagree?  The weather has turned warmer and muggier here.  I needed no encouragement to step up to the counter.  The cone tasted creamier and more flavorful than I’d imagined it as I savored every lick.  You must try it too.  I’ve found some recipes, which I’ve linked..  Calories be damned.I’m all out for pleasure these days.

There was always a disappointment when growing up about the promise of going to a maple sugar farm as the sap was rising and maple syrup was being collected. As I remember the process is called sugaring. Generally, the weather necessary for this action to take place never coincided with my availability.  I satisfied my primal desires by nibbling on maple sugar candy, a staple at any self respecting farm store in our area.  I usually went for the maple leaf shape, it seemed less aggressive than eating the little Pilgrim  boy or little Pilgrim girl.  Or are they adult pilgrims?  I’m not sure.

maple leaf maple candy

If you follow me, you might get in trouble, but I promise we’ll have fun.

In case you need more encouragement, here’s a recipe for maple walnut from allrecipes.com at your fingertips.

Recipe Summary

Prep:

30 mins

Cook:

35 mins

Additional:

3 hrs

Total:

4 hrs 5 mins

Servings:

8

Yield:

5 cups

Nutrition Info

 

Ingredients

Decrease Serving

8

Increase Serving

Adjust

Original recipe yields 8 servings

Ingredient Checklist

• 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 ½ cups milk
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup (Optional)
• ¾ cup maple syrup
• ⅛ teaspoon coarse salt
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Wet Walnuts:

• 1 ½ cups walnut halves
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 pinch salt

•

Directions

Instructions Checklist

• Step 1

  Pour cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the bowl. Whisk egg yolks together in a separate bowl.

• Step 2

  Heat milk, sugar, and corn syrup together in a saucepan over medium-low heat until milk begins to steam, about 5 minutes. Slowly pour about 1/2 cup heated milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Scrape egg yolk mixture into the saucepan with a heatproof spatula.

• Step 3

  Cook and stir milk mixture constantly with the spatula, scraping the bottom of the saucepan often, until mixture thickens and coats the spatula, about 10 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat; pour mixture through the mesh strainer into the cream.

• Step 4

  Stir 3/4 cup maple syrup, coarse salt, and vanilla into cream mixture, then place the bowl over a larger bowl of ice water; stir to cool to room temperature. Chill mixture in the refrigerator, about 2 hours.

• Step 5

  Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C). Spread walnuts onto a baking sheet.

• Step 6

  Toast walnuts in the preheated oven until they turn golden brown and become fragrant, about 15 minutes. Set nuts aside to cool to room temperature. Chop nuts coarsely.

• Step 7

  Heat the 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon maple syrup in a saucepan until it comes to a boil. Stir in walnuts, and return to a boil. Stir nuts for 10 seconds, remove from heat; set aside to cool completely. The nuts will be wet and sticky when cooled.

• Step 8

  Remove cream mixture from the refrigerator, pour into your ice cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. During the last few minutes of churning, stir in wet walnuts.

Let me know how you like it!