maple rice pudding

When the days are getting longer, and you can feel the warmth of the sun despite the chilly air, its maple sugar time. we had the good fortune to visit the Brookwood farm at the Blue Hills reservation in Milton during maple season this march to learn more about syrup making.
Maple sap begins to run when the temperature is above freezing during the day and below freezing at night. The sap runs from the roots to the branches. An average maple tree will give you about 15-20 gallons of sap. It takes 35-50 gallons on maple sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. The sap has to be boiled down as soon as possible after it is collected. The sap will go bad, losing its sugar, very quickly when it is above freezing. I love fresh maple sap. I remember visiting a sugar house in the woods of vermont years ago, and being given a dixie cup of fresh sap to drink. It has a wonderful green taste, fresh, like drinking new growth. Nothing like its finished product.



The sap is then put on to boil. At the sugar house the sap is boiled in a huge wood fired boiler. At home a large stock pot will do, but make sure it is deep so the syrup will not boil over. It takes anywhere from 2-6 hours for the sap to turn into syrup. The golden amber grade a syrup if made from sap at the beginning of the run. The dark, thick rich grade b syrup (that I live for) is the made from the sap at the end. I always use grade b when baking with maple syrup-it stands up and shouts MAPLE, instead of just sweet.



Maple syrup, and its further reduced friend maple sugar can be substituted almost any recipe. When I was a Pastry Chef at a macrobiotic restaurant, I used maple syrup as a sweetener almost exclusively. Try replacing 1/2 of the corn syrup in a pecan pie with maple syrup, or instead of molasses in a ginger cookie.



March is always a tough month to get through in New England, the light looks like spring but the air feels like winter. In Boston street corners are marked by ancient crusty snow banks that refuse to melt, and the whole world looks dreary. I am always depressed this time of year in the kitchen, dreaming of peaches and cherries and local strawberries, itching for the season to bring me something fresh. And then maple sugar time arrives! I never thought about it this way, but maple syrup is our first crop of the year! One of my favorite maple treats to make is maple rice pudding. Creamy, comforting, warm-it is a simple homey treat for a chilly day. There could not be an easier dessert to make-and here is how to do it!

Maple Rice Pudding

1 quart whole milk
1/2 cup long grain rice
1 vanilla bean
1 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt

In a large sauce pan, place the milk, the UNCOOKED rice, maple syrup and salt. Give it a good stir. With a paring knife, slice the vanilla bean in half, and scrape the seeds out and into the pan. Put the whole pod in there as well. Bring the whole thing to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Stir the pudding every 5 minutes or so, or the rice will stick to the bottom and burn. Cook until the rice is tender and to your liking-about 1 hour. Do not panic if it takes longer (or shorter!) Just go with how you feel about the texture of the rice. I personally like it to be very soft, so sometimes I cook the pudding for 1 1/2 hours. When the rice is close add in the heavy cream and cook for about 5 more minutes. Take out the vanilla bean (careful of your finger tips, it will be hot!) and spoon the pudding into heat proof bowls. I like to serve this pudding hot, but it can be chilled and eaten cold as well. It will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days. If you like it cold, whip a cup of heavy cream with 2 TB maple syrup to dollop on the top.

almond macaroons

when I first arrived at my job as pastry chef at the club, I was told I could do anything I wanted with the dining room menu, as long as I kept on the apple crumb pie and the almond macaroons. neither came as a surprise to me-one of the things I love about the club is the traditional new england food we serve among the fancier fare-scrod with mashed potatoes, the apple pie, fish balls on fridays. but what did surprise me was how many plates of macaroons I would sell, and how often I would be making them!

macaroons are some of the oldest known cookies. they date back to the late 18th century. They were created in an Italian monestary. The name macaroon comes from the Italian word for paste-maccarone. The recipe was carried into the world by a pair of Carmelite nuns, who baked and sold the cookies while in hiding during the French revolutionary war, to pay for their housing. they were known as the "macaroon sisters".

macaroons were very popular in the United States during the 19th century. Thomas Jefferson was a macaroon lover, and they were served in the White House. Jefferson's own recipe for macaroons, found in "Thomas Jefferson's Cookbook" gives instruction on how to make almond paste, by pouring boiling water over the nuts to remove the skins and to soften the meat. the almonds were then pounded with a mortar and pestle.

luckily for us in the 21st century, with store bought almond paste, macaroons are quick and easy to make (and require very little muscle). macaroons are in fact, only a combination of three ingredients-almond paste, sugar and egg whites. here are the proportions:

8 oz. almond paste (make sure it is not marzipan, which has more sugar and it not used for baking)
4 oz. sugar
1 egg white

Pre heat your oven to 325 F. temperature is key here-macaroons are a slow baking cookie. If your oven runs hot, you may want to try 300. or invest in a oven thermometer-its worth it!

Begin by breaking up the almond paste into walnut size chunks, and place the sugar on top, in the bowl of a stand mixer. I always make macaroons in a a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment. you could use a food processor, using the blade and a "pulse" motion. if you are machine-less, use you fingers, and work the ingredients like you were cutting butter into flour for a pie crust. On low speed, mix the paste and sugar together, until the paste breaks apart, and the mixture looks like coarse sand, like on a beach in Maine. I can always tell that this step is finished by the sound of it-it begins to sound like one of those rice filled maracas that they let me play in elementary school band. time to add the egg white-as is-no fancy whipping, the white is there to hold everything together and give the cookie that wonderful chewy texture.
let it mix until it forms a ball or two-there is no gluten here to worry about developing, but you can over beat the almond paste, which will make the cookies greasy.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat pan liner. I always use a pan liner for baking cookies. it makes the world a better place to live in, with less stress and time wasted cleaning. But I cannot emphasize this step enough when it comes to macaroons-they will stick to your non lined pan. scoop the cookies with a smallish ice cream scoop, and place about 2 inches apart. they do spread a tiny bit, and I like to give them space so the air can circulate and dry the outside out. I usually put a slivered almond on top of each cookie. Place the cookie sheet in the center of the oven, and bake for about 20-30 minutes, until the cookies are a light golden brown. color is really the only way to tell if the cookies are done. they change texture completely as they are cooling, the outside forming a crisp outer shell to the sweet chewy center. which brings me to the 2nd most important step in macaroon baking-do not try to remove the cookies until at least a half an hour passes by. if you try to remove them while they are still warm, the bottom of the cookies will stick to the parchment, pulling their insides out, and you will be left with only a warm hollow shell.

I serve almond macaroons dusted with confectioners sugar and topped with fresh berries at the club, but they are wonderful as is with a cup of tea. hope you enjoy them!