Still room for more maple

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This little heifer at Hall Farms in East Dixfield just had the sweetest face.

This is pretty much a part II to my previous blog, but my love for everything maple is out of control, and I keep thinking of one more thing I could make. I spent the entire week leading up to Maine Maple Sunday pairing maple and dairy in various ways. Had I only indulged in one sweet treat, I would have been fine, but after all those crepes and fudge and maple drizzled everything, my jeans were a little harder to button this morning than they had been the previous Sunday. Thankfully, the expected continuation of cold temperatures means I can wear forgiving sweater dresses for a couple more weeks. With all that maple sugar in my system, it’s amazing they haven’t had to peel me off the ceiling.

I went to back to Hall Farms in East Dixfield for Maine Maple Sunday because Rodney Hall said they were expecting Governor LePage to stop by. Apparently I just missed him, or he was in the calf barn when I was at the pancake breakfast and I was in the sap house when he was in the new composting barn. Either way, I never saw him, but the Halls did have a nice family picture with LePage posted on their Facebook page.

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Three generations of Halls with the governor. From left, Dick Hall, his son Rodney, Governor LePage, Dick’s son Randy, and Randy’s daughter Meg.

I did arrive while Independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler was there. Rodney Hall took him for a tour, showing him the dairy farm’s new composting barn and the sap house. IMG_2778IMG_2783I toured the farm myself, getting my usual pictures of cows. They really are some of the most photogenic subjects I have ever photographed.

IMG_2735 IMG_2737 IMG_2739 IMG_2753 IMG_2774 And pictures of cute little kids eating their ice cream and maple syrup in the sugar house.

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I finished up a few more photos, got my maple candy and headed home. Several friends posted about their Maine Maple Sunday outings on Facebook, and one mentioned how good the maple doughnuts she had were. Maple doughnuts! I have made several varieties of baked doughnuts, but never maple!

I started thinking about what I had in the house for possible ingredients and decided on buttermilk maple doughnuts made with buckwheat flour. I can’t eat wheat, but I love the nutty flavor of buckwheat and that it’s a Maine grain, so I use it in everything. The consistency of the doughnuts was just about perfect in my opinion, but there were these little holes in the tops of the doughnuts, where there had been air pockets.

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The taste was fine, but they were ugly. So, I decided to make a maple glaze to cover them up. I made this in my previous blog, but it curdled on my when I tried it during a snowstorm. Today was beautiful and clear, so I decided to give it another shot, and it came out great.

IMG_2788This is 2 cups of cream and a 1/2 cup of maple syrup. You could make it with milk, but I would probably do 1 1/2 cups just because it will be a little thinner.

If you don’t have doughnut pans, you can use muffin tins, or this would be a nice cake. I bet it would work to  pour your batter in on top of your maple cream glaze and cook it all in a cast iron skillet in the oven. It would be like an upside down cake.

IMG_2796Buttermilk Maple Doughnuts

2 cups buckwheat flour

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 cup maple syrup

2 eggs

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

Glaze

2 cups cream

1/2 cup maple syrup

For the Doughnuts: Preheat oven to 350.  Mix your dry ingredients and then add the rest and mix well. Pour or spoon into your doughnut pans. Bake until a knife comes out clean.

For the Glaze: In a cast iron skillet, pour in milk and maple syrup, heat on medium. Stir continually for about 5 minutes. Turn up the heat. Stir occasionally but not steady, allowing it to boil. It will get thicker and thicker. You’ll eventually have to stir continually again to keep it from sticking or burning on your skillet. It will take a good 15 to 20 minutes for it to finish. Let it cool in the pan until your doughnuts are finished baking.

Dip the doughnuts in your glaze and eat with a big ol’ glass of milk!

 

 

Jami Badershall

About Jami Badershall

Jami Badershall is the Communications Manager for the Maine Dairy & Nutrition Council and Maine Dairy Promotion Board. She also owns her own small farm. On "The Dairy Dish", Jami ventures to Maine farms, highlights events around the state, and gives you recipe ideas using local dairy products.