Almonds, apple, blueberries, buttermilk, chocolate, cinnamon, coriander, fennel, ginger, harissa, orange, pears, pecans and smoked paprika. These are just a few of a myriad foods that take to maple like a magnet. TASTE food editor Abigail Donnelly has four sublime recipes starring maple for you to try – plus five more easy ways with its syrupy deliciousness (including maple bacon).
Almond-and-maple cakes with salted maple caramel
These soft and gooey little cakes are so moreish you’ll have to triple the recipe.
Roast lemon, maple and cider chicken
Once you try it with maple, you’ll never look at roast chicken the same again. Ever.
The ultimate toasted cheese
Few things beat a simple and sublime toasted cheese. Add maple and bacon, and you have a next-level toasted cheese on steroids.
Sticky maple-glazed BBQ ribs
For the stickiest ribs of them all, maple should be your go-to ingredient. Serve with traditional coleslaw or make one with celery, fennel and apple. Toss with some maple-and-mustard salad dressing (recipe below).
MAPLE 5 WAYS
Maple-and-mustard salad dressing
Place 2 t wholegrain mustard, 1⁄3 cup white wine vinegar, 2⁄3 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 crushed garlic clove and 4 t maple syrup in a Consol jar. Shake vigorously until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Baked Ricotta with maple
Place 250 g fresh ricotta cheese on a baking tray and grill until golden brown. Pour over
1 T maple syrup and serve with fresh fruit.
Maple bacon
Fry 250 g Woolworths streaky wood-smoked bacon in a hot pan until crispy. Drain on kitchen paper, then return to the pan with 2 T maple syrup. Stir until the maple syrup has melted and coats the bacon. Add to salads or serve with cauliflower soup.
Maple butter
Mix 100 g softened butter with 1 T maple syrup using a spatula. Serve on waffles, scones or flapjacks.
Maple-roasted nuts
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Toss 200 g salted nuts
with smoked paprika, then transfer to a roasting tray. Drizzle over 1 T olive oil and stir until evenly coated. Roast for
15 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour over
4 T maple syrup, then return to the oven and roast for
a further 5 minutes, or until sticky and golden. Enjoy
as a snack or scatter
over a salad.
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