Is maple sugar a good sugar to use?

︎ Antioxidants that support your body’s immune system

︎ A lower glycemic index than refined sugar (important for someone with diabetes)

︎ An amazing sweetness when used in baking

︎ Less calories than refined sugar!

How much maple syrup do I need to make maple sugar?

One quart of syrup will yield about 1.5 – 2 pounds of sugar.

You just need some genuine maple syrup (use code SOULYRESTED to save), a commercial-quality mixer, a candy thermometer, and a good dose of patience. (I’ve been told that if you’re very patient, and have strong hands, you can attempt to do this by hand. But we’ve never attempted it. In the mixer it can take 15 minutes or more of mixing, so I can’t imagine how long it would take by hand.)

How much maple sap do I need to make maple sugar?

Before making maple sugar, you have to turn maple sap into maple syrup. (Yeah, no one ever said the best stuff was easy.)

You’ll need about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.

So if you want to make 2 pounds of maple sugar, that will equate to about 10-15 gallons of sap you’ll need to collect.

Go here for all you need to know for How to Make Syrup–20 Tips for Beginners

Can I substitute regular sugar for maple sugar?

I often replace regular sugar with maple sugar in a recipe. It makes it a little more delicious and a lot more nutritious. Dive into my Complete Guide to Sugars right here.

Do I need special equipment to make maple sugar?

I should warn you that making maple sugar pretty much meant the death of my standard kitchen aid. The motor just isn’t up to that kind of work too many times. We upgraded to a professional kitchen aid (like this one) and I truly love this baby. Now I can make maple sugar whenever I want, and my mixer is a workhorse, always up to the challenges this maple-sugar-lovin’ lady dishes out.

How to make maple sugar

1. Heat.

First, heat the syrup to  252-257˚F. No need to stir it at all at this point. Once it reaches the right temperature, remove the pan from the heat and pour the now-darker-and-thicker syrup into your mixer’s bowl.

2. Mix.

Mix. And mix. And then mix some more. This step will probably take about 15-20 minutes.

Warning: this definitely puts a beating on a standard mixer’s motor. If you force this issue, one day it will just burn up and stop working for you, right in the middle of making a batch of maple sugar. Well, I mean, it may. I’m not saying I know this from personal experience or anything. Cough. Cough.

I upgraded to this great model, which is basically professionally-graded power, made for an average kitchen. I’m glad I took the plunge every time I use it, which is always many times a week.

3. Sift.

As it starts turning to granulated sugar (trust me, it will happen, magically), it may rise up in volume. If you need to, turn off the mixer, and the volume will decrease again. But be sure to keep mixing the sugar until all moisture has been beat out of it and the sugar is finely granulated.

What to do if your maple sugar is chunky

If your batch of maple syrup that you started with was heavier on the crystalized side, and/or a dark syrup that was made later in the sugaring season, like ours was last winter, you’ll have large granules of sugar mixed in with your finer sugar.

Once you sift out the larger granules you have a choice:

• You can run them through a food processor to create a finer sugar.
• Or you can separate the different sized granules and keep the larger ones to use in place of sprinkles.

The second option always makes me super happy. I love using our maple sprinkles in lots of delicious ways.

A Dozen Ways to Use Maple Sprinkles

I love using our maple sprinkles for little bursts of maple crunch on:

• Maple ice cream
• A slice of sourdough bread slathered with maple cream
• Cupcakes
• A bowl of yogurt
• A dollop of whipped cream on a slice of strawberry pie
• Fresh strawberries dipped in whipped cream 
• In a meat rub
• Icing cookies
• Pancakes, for extra maple crunch on top of your syrup
• French toast
• Blueberry Cake
• Maple chocolate iced coffee

The post How to Make Maple Sugar (& 12 ways to use it) first appeared on Souly Rested.

I was rendering lard and had more cracklins than usual.

The same day I had quite a craving for kamut chocolate chip cookies.

Naturally, I started fantasizing about adding some cracklins into said cookies. The rest is history… and every bacon lover’s dream.

While I use fresh milled Kamut usually for these cookies (find out here how to use fresh flour in any recipe), here I’m sharing a simpler recipe. But feel free to add bacon to any chocolate chip cookies made with fresh flour too.

Print

Cookies Made with Bacon

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter at room temperature (I use lard)
• 1 1/2 cups maple sugar or brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 2 1/2 tsp maple or vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 3-3 1/4 cups flour
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups milk chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup semi-sweet mini chips
• 1/4 cup cut up bits of cooked bacon or I use cracklins, when I have them

Instructions

• In a large bowl, beat lard and sugars. Mix in eggs, vanilla, and maple syrup.
• Combine 3 cups flour, mint, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a separate bowl, then beat the flour mixture into the rest.
• Stir in chips and bacon (or cracklins).
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Place teaspoonfuls of dough on cookie sheets. No need to space out much, these cookies don’t spread when they bake. But you will need to flatten them with a floured cup bottom or a fork if you prefer them to be flatter instead of thick and round. The lard will hold its shape in a thicker mound if you don’t flatten them. (Both ways makes for a delicious cookie, so don’t stress over this.)
• Bake for 8-10 minutes, switching trays from top to bottom racks halfway through. The cookies may appear a bit underdone, but their edges should just begin to turn golden brown.

Notes

• I render my lard and freeze it in butter-shaped molds so it’s super easy to use in place on butter in any recipe. Go here for more details about baking with lard.
• Go here for details on how to make your own maple sugar.
• If you’re using butter instead of lard, you will probably want to chill the dough for at least 30 minutes before working with it. Add an additional 1⁄4 cup of flour if the dough doesn’t seem quite thick enough after refrigeration. (Before chilling, if I’m using butter in this recipe, my dough is always too gooey, but I resist the urge to keep adding flour because I have made these cookies too cake-like by doing that in the past.)
• If you’re using butter you may find you want to cook the cookies a few minutes longer and cool them completely on cookie sheets, where they’ll flatten, and their centers will harden slightly while on the tray. After they’ve cooled, they’re chewy and moist.
• This recipe has a little more extract than usual; I find I need the little extra “umpf” when baking with lard… I will admit lard does not pack the same taste punch as butter (I LOVE butter yall) but feel free to only add 1 tsp of extract if you’re making these with butter.
• Mini chocolate chips are optional, of course, well I mean to most folks. I don’t see them as optional, cause I love the extra small bits of chocolate in every cookie. Plus, I love having both the milk and semi-sweet tastes of chocolate.
• I recommend either using medium-cooked bacon or be sure to cut crisp bacon into tiny pieces. You don’t want hard chunks in your cookies.
• While any salt will work just fine in this recipe, Redmonds salt is truly the best. It’s mined over 400 feet below ground, right here in the U.S. so it’s naturally protected from pollutants (not something you can say about salt mined from the ocean) and more than 60 trace minerals. If you want to try it out, use my code SWEETSALT to save 15% off your entire order, anytime.

Can you buy lard for making chocolate chip cookies?

You can absolutely source good lard, either as fat that you can render down yourself, or as already rendered lard. Here are some tips:

1. These regenerative farmers raise the best lard you can find: Check it out.
2. If you live in New England and would like to purchase a whole or half a pig, I would love to chat about how our family farm can help you load your freezer next fall (with amazing pig fat as well as delicious pasture-raised meat). We keep a waiting list, and I am always happy to meet new customers and expand our plans for next year, to make sure your family enjoys high-quality meat next year (if I can’t help you today). To message me, hop over to instagram or send an email to michelle(dot)visser(at)outlook(dot)com.
3. Find local pig farmers and ask around until you can hopefully find one who either sells lard they have rendered or maybe the raw fat which you can then render yourself. (Or just store away until you use it, in the case of caul fat.)
4. Go to eatwild.com and search for a pig farm near you.
5. Order online. Seriously. You can purchase this amazing fat, ready to use, and skipped to your door:

Caul fat

Lard made from back fat

Lard made from the inner, leaf fat 

 

Items I use to make these amazing cookies:

The post Cookies Made with Bacon first appeared on Souly Rested.

I love it even more now that we’ve figured out how to make sourdough bread without any discard. Today I’m sharing my exact recipe and the technique I follow every week to make two loaves of sourdough bread right here in our farmhouse kitchen.

Go here if you’d like to know how to double your sourdough bread recipe.

This post contains affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.

I do make other bread, now and then… especially my Maple Sandwich Bread, which I’m kinda in love with. I had tons of fun as a guest chef at the Xhibition Kitchen in Boston last month, where they asked me to demonstrate this favorite recipe from my newly-released, #1 in Food Science, book, Sweet Maple.

Isn’t Sourdough too Complicated?

While sandwich bread is a little simpler to make, and doesn’t require any daily maintenance, there’s something about the gorgeous crumb of a well-made sourdough loaf.

And that slightly sour taste… And that amazingly, lightly crisp crust… And the fact that this deliciousness is fermented amazingness–capturing good bacteria and yeast from the air, just like my homemade kombucha that I love so much.

This post contains affiliate links. Go here to read the full (ultra fun) legal disclosure about that.

On one hand, yes, sourdough bread is more of a commitment than my sandwich bread recipe (you can find that in my book, btw, Sweet Maple, available on Amazon or, even better, grab a copy here and support local businesses with your purchase.)

But I’ve decided sourdough bread is very much worth the effort.

Plus, it’s really not complicated. The fact is, I have unmeaningly neglected my sourdough for a week or more at a time. It’s sitting right there on my counter and I totally forget to feed it. Every time it’s been totally fine. I’ll discard any hard crust that’s formed, rescue the drops of good dough-y-ness left and feed it well.

And on baking day I just make sure to choose a day that I know I’ll be around home. I can be out in the garden, doing farm chores, or just pulling up a chair by the kitchen fire, with my laptop in hand doing work in my favorite office ever. I just need to remember to check in on the bread process at the right times throughout the day. It only takes 5-10 minutes of my time a few times throughout the day, and voila we have amazing, fresh, good-for-our-gut bread for dinner (and all week long).

btw, if you would like to know what items I would not want to have to live without here in my farmhouse kitchen (like my most-favorite-ever ceramic bread pan) you’ll want to check out this list of my favorite kitchen items.

Do You Need a Starter?

Yes, you need a sourdough starter before you can make sourdough bread. While it’s super easy to make this yourself, you can buy one as well.

A sourdough starter is simply flour and water that you give a little bit of attention. (2:1 flour and filtered tap water.. or any water that is free of chlorine, which can kill a starter.)  When it’s well cared for, it makes bubbles. In fact, this is how you will know your starter is ready to use–a lot of beautiful bubbles will fill your starter, probably by day 7-10 if you’re using white flour. Day 2-3 with wheat flour, because wheat ferments faster. (btw, feel free to start with wheat then switch over to white; no problem.)

It’s those wonderful bubbles that magically make your bread rise.

Once you have a starter, you never have to make one again.

I will tell you that I care for my starter a little differently than most people do. I hate the idea of throwing away a cup or more starter every day–which is the way most folks recommend you do it. But it just seemed so wasteful. Yes, I know there are numerous recipes that call for a cup or two of sourdough, but I’d rather build up my starter a few days ahead when I want extra, so I have enough when I want to do those things, than throw away starter aimlessly and often. (Building up my starter simply means I feed it lots of flour and water–at a 2:1 ratio–a few days before I want to use it.)

So I keep my starter in a plain ole, wide-mouth quart jar, covered with a small piece of fabric (to keep unwanted bugs out). Then, on an average day, I simply feed my starter a little flour and filtered water and stir it well with a narrow wooden spoon. I don’t measure my amounts of flour and water, just add enough of each to keep the starter a nice, thick, pancake-batter thickness. No it doesn’t grow quickly, but I find it’s just the right amount when it’s time to make bread once a week, which is 2 cups of starter (since I double the recipe below) and a nice layer of starter left behind.

How Do I Make Sourdough Bread (with no discard)

What I do once a day

Daily you want to feed your starter… add filtered water, then add flour until the starter is the consistency of heavy cake batter… Just keep in mind that you’re better with too much flour than too much water. Well, in my opinion at least. This way you’ll have less holes in your bread, (in the “crumb”) and a very nice slice of bread.

And you’ll find it easier to get your bread to rise if your starter is thicker, not watery. Also, if it’s too watery it doesn’t have enough body to double.

And don’t sweat it if you forget to feed it one day… or 3 or 4. It will survive a lot of neglect. You just may not have a nice bubbly starter ready for your next loaf of bread.

Two nights before bread-baking day, feel free to add more flour and water if it’s not looking like you’ll have enough bubbly starter for the recipe.

What I do the night before

It sounds more complicated than it is to say that making sourdough bread is a 2-day process because honestly the first day’s effort is almost non-existent. You mix a few things together in a bowl. That’s it.

In a large bowl, add these ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm, filtered water 

1 cup sourdough starter 

3 cups of flour

I double this each week, to make the 2 loaves you see below. I recently shared the full details on how to double your sourdough bread recipe too.

With this recipe doubled, I make one long loaf in my favorite bread pan and one round artisan loaf in a dutch oven.

Mix & let set overnight in bowl on your kitchen counter that you’ve covered over with a towel.

You don’t even have to mix it super well. It doesn’t need to be like true dough.

But you do need to be sure to leave enough starter to be a thick layer on the bottom of your jar. I take this opportunity every week to switch my sourdough starter over to a new, clean, wide-mouth Mason jar. I’ve let it sit in the same jar a few weeks at a time but always regretted how difficult it was to clean the caked-on mess.

What I do on baking morning

In the morning, you’ll find your dough is filling up much more of the bowl. You may also find it’s gotten a little “crusty” in spots on the top. If so, you can lay a wet towel on the dough for 10-20 minutes to soften it up. It doesn’t always “work” and that’s totally fine. There’s no problem with using the dough with a few little crusty spots in it.

Add these ingredients:

1 tb sugar (I use maple sugar or this pure cane sugar)

2 1/2 tsp salt (this salt is my favorite)

1 cup of flour (I like this flour but I get my wheat berries here)

Add up to 1 more cup of flour if needed. Knead just until all combined and nice texture; not too sticky.

You can use any sugar and any flour you would like, btw. I’ve gotten more picky about my sugars and flour over the years. I will use all-natural maple sugar or this pure cane sugar (I buy it at my local Aldis) and mill my own flour, which I often use in a 1:1 ratio with this flour. I love my grain mill. It does an amazing job and looks gorgeous on my counter. See my grain mil right here, or you can check it out on Amazon too.

But sourdough with fresh flour is a whole new ballgame, so definitely check out my tips: Sourdough with Fresh Milled Flour

If you want to use fresh milled flour you will have the most nutritious bread possible. I’ve priced around and tried different varieties. I am most happy with the wheat berries that happen to also be the most economical; that doesn’t happen often in life!

I order these wheat berries for bread, and these wheat berries for baking pastries and cookies and such.

But fresh milled flour is never necessary for amazing sour dough bread. In fact, any flour and any sugar you have on hand will be just fine.

Roll dough lightly in flour if still a tad sticky, then place in bowl twice it’s size, that you’ve prepared with a thin layer of oil (I spray on olive oil using this wonderful tool), and cover bowl with a towel (or plastic wrap that you spray underneath, so the rising dough won’t stick to it). Unlike other homemade breads, there’s no need to set your bowl in a draft-free area.

Granted, in colder areas, like my drafty old kitchen, it will take longer to rise–up to 3-4 hours–but it will have more of that delicious sourdough flavor the longer it takes to rise.

But you could do things differently

My oldest daughter (the Mechanical Engineer), Logan, happens to be quite an engineer of bread too, and she likes to do everything up to this point the day before she’ll be baking her bread. Then this rise she’ll let go even longer and slower, overnight in the fridge.

She also isn’t a fan of having her sourdough on her small counter area in her small kitchen, so Logan keeps her dough in the fridge until the day before she wants to start a new loaf. Then she feeds it a cup or more of flour with enough water to make a nice consistency (more watery than my pancake-batter consistency I go for) early that morning, before going to work, and again the same amount at night, and it’s ready to be used the next day.

I call my slow-and-steady starter the country starter and her fast-and-quick version the city starter. (She does live and work in Boston, so it’s appropriate.)

What I do on baking afternoon

When it’s about 1.5x in size, it’s time to divide your dough. (Sourdough doesn’t double. Or if it does, it’s probably overproofed.)

Simply jiggle the dough out of the bowl and onto your counter (believe it or not, there shouldn’t be a need for flour on your counter, but dust some on if you find you need it). I divide my double-batch of dough into two pieces, one about 1/4 of the overall amount and one about 3/4.

But if you’re just doing a single loaf, no need to divide your dough.

Turn bowl over and plop dough onto counter. Divide. Then gently flatten both sections of dough separately, using light finger or knuckle pressure. Create two “balls” by pulling a top “corner” in, pressing down, and rotating your circle of dough 90 degrees. Keep doing this until your dough is no longer stretchy, about 10-12 pulls/turns. You now have a nice ball of dough, which will lead to a firmer, airy loaf of bread.

Turn the balls over and lightly dust w flour. Cover each with a towel and let rest for 10 minutes. (This is called a “bench rest.”)

After 10 minutes, smooch each into rectangle the right length for your pan (or just a square for an artisan loaf that will be baked in a dutch oven).

If you’re more of a visual person, see the whole bread-making process right here in my instagram highlights.

I then make a kind of “house” shape then roll the dough, from the pointed “roof,” down, firmly pressing the dough together with each roll. I will pinch the seam and/or pull the log or circle of dough along the counter to try to eliminate a seam.

For an artisan loaf, I spray a medium-sized pyrex bowl with oil. (I love this oil sprayer that allows me to use pure olive oil instead of chemical-laden aerosol cooking spray.)

Then cover in a dusting of flour. For the long loaf, I get out the right sized parchment paper. (Yes, I reuse my parchment paper again and again.)

Meanwhile preheat your bread pan(s) at 425. (For me, this is a cast iron dutch oven and this ceramic loaf pan that I happen to be in love with.)

I place my ball into its prepared bowl, seem side up. And I place my long log on parchment paper inside of the lid of my ceramic bread baker. (While the bottom of the pan is preheating.) I cover the bowl and lid with a kitchen towel and set them both in a draft-free area for about 1/2 hour.

I know it’s done rising when a gentle finger poke doesn’t bounce back. 

Place your ball of dough on parchment paper, sized to fit your dutch oven, and score. (See below for more about scoring.)

Then, using the paper to lift it easily, plop the ball of dough in your preheated dutch oven, and place lid on pan.

Lift the long loaf out of the lid it’s been rising in, place it (on its parchment paper) into the hot bread pan, and cover with top.

Bake both on center rack at 425 for 20 minutes. Then remove lids and leave an additional 10 minutes or so, until crust is done. 

Watch Every Step of the Process

I documented my process, from starter to bread, one day on my instagram stories and saved the whole bread-making process right here if you’d like to watch.

While you’re there please say “hi” and follow my page. I find instagram to be my favorite “hang out,” and would love to see you there.

The Only Hard Step in the Process

Then comes possibly the hardest step of the entire process…

Wait.

Don’t give into your temptation to cut into that wonderful smelling loaf right away. If you do, you will have doughy, squishy bread. Wait 20 minutes and you’ll be greeted with a firm yet airy piece of bread that you will be quite certain is a taste directly from heaven.

Your Questions About Making Sourdough Bread (without discard)

Yesterday, when I was making our loaves for the week ahead, I had this crazy idea that I would invite folks on instagram to join in and be a part of the process as the day unfolded. I wasn’t expecting it to be such a popular thing! So I saved the stories to a sourdough highlight for you to check them out anytime, and then I pulled this article together to give everyone answers to all the questions I was flooded with. Such as…

Why bench rest the dough?

A few of you asked if the bench rest is really necessary. I’m not an expert by any means, but from what I’ve read, this little nap gives the gluten in the dough time to catch it’s breath, so to speak, and recover, which means it can reform the protein chains that are the overall structure of your bread.

Why don’t I need to add yeast?

Crazy enough, sour dough starter captures natural yeast from the air in your home.

Will my sourdough starter get moldy?

A sourdough starter should never develop mold. I’ve had mine for years and never had a problem with mold. If you do see mold in your starter, from what I understand the cause can only be one of two things: a not-clean container or spoon was used to start your starter or your flour source may be contaminated

Why is it sour tasting?

2. I didn’t perfect this recipe.

Kayla, my homesteader-at-heart-since-she-was-a-little-girl spent years perfecting this. I only took over the efforts this winter when she announced she would be spending the long New England winter on the Gulf of Mexico with Hayley and Jordyn, her sister who was interning at the Texas State Aquarium.

While I had no control over the quietness in the house this winter, I had total control of the sourdough operation. And I was shocked at how much I loved it. (The bread making. Not so much the quietness.)

And don’t forget I list out all my favorite kitchen items right here–you know, the ones I’d hate to have to do without, and yes, my ceramic bread pan is #1 on my list.

 

Want more sourdough?

Sourdough Pizza Crust

Sourdough Bread Bowls

Go here to find out my favorite sourdough “tool” of all time, as well as all the items I wouldn’t want to be without in my farmhouse kitchen.

And other links you’ll love:

How to make real butter.

A review of my three favorite cookbooks of all time.

Make your own giant cookie that the kids will love.

How a homesteader makes French toast.

Products I LOVE that can turn every kitchen into a homestead-kind-of kitchen.

 

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Aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands. I Thessalonians 4:11

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The post How I make sourdough bread without discard first appeared on Souly Rested.

Birthday gift, hostess gift, wedding gift, or even an NDIP gift (No Day In Particular gifts let someone special know you care about them in a really memorable way)… All are great times to give a gift of homestead recipes. Real food recipes. The good stuff.

I’ll break it down by my current favorite books on this topic, along with great ideas of items to make the pefect gift. Just follow along and make a gift that will be treasured:

• Choose a book–you really can’t go wrong with any one of these.
• Match the book with one of the kitchen necessities I suggest under each book, that pair perfectly with some delicious recipes in the book.
• Add in one of the ingredients that I list near the end of this article, ingredients that the gift recipients will need and love, no matter which of the books you gift them.
• Wrap the items and the book and you’ve just cinched Christmas, or a special birthday, or a hostess gift that will never be forgotten, for any recipient who treasures real food and homestead kind of recipes.

So let’s dive in…

Give a Gift of Homestead Recipes

Whether you’re looking for a gift for someone who is a pro in the kitchen and would always love a fantastic new cookbook or someone who would love the inspiration because she’s intimidated by cooking and baking from scratch, today’s inspiration is for YOU.

These four cookbooks are unique, loaded with amazing tips and tricks for even the seasoned cooking experts, yet practical, using real ingredients that real people have in their kitchens.

Love Language of the South

I just published such an encouraging podcast episode talking with Stacy Lyn Harris about her new cookbook. We had such a great conversation, talking about the Family Table and why it’s so very important today. And I’m in love with this book, y’all.

Pair this gorgeous cookbook–Love Language of the South–with a few utensils and a kitchen towel and the recipient will pretty much think you’re better than sliced bread.

Listen into our fun chat on my podcast here: Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy, episode 101

Or join us via youtube:

A Homestead Recipe Cookbook #1: Sweet Maple

I was elated when I got the news that Sweet Maple is one of only 9 treasured cookbooks that made it into this year’s holiday gift giving catalog of books published by the New England Independent Booksellers Association (NEIBA)… A little catalog of the best books for holiday gifts and winter reading…

Seriously, pinch me… I’m showcased right below the Joy of Cooking! To see the full catalog go right here.

What would be a great gift to pair up with Sweet Maple?

• Give this 14″ cast iron pizza pan with Sweet Maple, or this one,(aff link) and the recipient may make delicious giant candy cookies, as seen on page 76, all the time (not to mention the amazing pizzas they’ll make as well).
• Go all out with a gift that will make every single thing they bake more nutritious and all-natural–a grain mill that they quite possibly will use (and love) every single day. I love my Harvest Grain Mill from Nutrimill. (In fact, it’s pictured on p. 34 of Sweet Maple.)
• Wrap a potential pie gift, including a jar of syrup and this amazing pie plate (aff link) or any of these with a copy of Sweet Maple. Then point the recipient to my favorite pie recipe of all time, the Maple Blueberry Pie on page 122 of the book.
• Include a gift certificate to my favorite nursery–Nature Hills–for a lilac tree. I planted three Bloomerang Lilacs in the fall last year. They shipped right to my front porch, and I had blooms next spring for making lilac syrup. (Find my recipe on page 154.)
• Or, if you’re getting this book as a gift for a backyard sugarmaker, add any sugarmaking equipment I recommend here as a perfect accompaniment to the book. They will LOVE you.

A Homestead Recipe Cookbook #2: The Prairie Homestead Cookbook

Okay, it’s no secret that Jill is a friend of mine, and I love working with her as a member of The Prairie Homestead team. (Here’s the latest article I’ve written over there about how to flavor DIY kombucha.) But I’d be recommending her cookbook in this post even if I’d never met her. Because this cookbook is the best I’ve ever read. Seriously.

What would be a great gift to pair up with The Prairie Homestead Cookbook?

If you want to give The Prairie Homestead Cookbook (aff link) as part of a show-stopping gift that will be treasured, pair it up with one of these great items that are inspired by the book:

• This awesome pasta maker from Lehmans is perfect for making Jill’s fresh pasta with pesto cream sauce (on page 81).
• This gorgeous dutch oven (aff link) is perfect for making Jill’s farmhouse beef stew (see page 108 of Jill’s cookbook for that deliciousness), nourishing homemade stock (page 236), and her simple roast chicken (page 54).
• Or wrap Jill’s book–which includes detailed instructions for making DIY vanilla extract on page 261–with these vanilla beans and these bottles, (aff links) and the recipient will have all they need to make homemade vanilla extract to use in all the new cooking they’ll be diving into thanks to this gorgeous, inspiring cookbook. (aff link)

A Homestead Recipe Cookbook #3: Stacy Lyn’s Harvest Cookbook

Stacy Lyn Harris, TV personality and best-selling author, is another inspiring friend of mine who can cook rings around anyone I know in the kitchen. In fact, I shared Stacy’s herb balsamic vinaigrette right here.

What would be a great gift to pair up with Stacy Lyn’s Harvest Cookbook?

If you’d like to make a gift-to-remember, I’d combine Stacy Lyn’s Harvest Cookbook (aff link) with one of these great items:

• So the gift recipient can make perfect Sage buttermilk waffles (page 267 in Stacy’s cookbook), wrap the cookbook with this awesome cast iron waffle maker (seriously, Lehmans has the biggest selection of cast iron I’ve ever seen) or this more traditional waffle maker, (aff link) if that’s more their style.
• Pair up Stacy’s cookbook with this awesome meat grinder (aff link) and the recipient will be making delicious sausage–from pork (p. 194) to Italian venison (p. 233) to wonderful breakfast sausage (p. 235). Or, if the recipient would rather have a meat grinder more like grandma’s, Lehman’s sells many options, like this hand-powered meat grinder.)
• Give this innovative sauce pan (aff link)–with a lid that doubles as a skillet!–along with Stacy’s book. By the way, I talked with Stacy to find out exactly what pan this was that I fell in love with on the pages of her cookbook. I found out it happens to be one of Stacy’s favorites in her kitchen (and that’s saying a lot. This lady knows her cook ware and has enough for an army!) In her book, you’ll find the innovative pan/skillet combo on page 85, with her creamy sweet potato soup, and page 101, serving up her heirloom black-eyed peas.
• Include a stoneware cookie sheet (aff link) with Stacy’s cookbook, and folks will have the perfect pan to cook the bacon needed for the eggs benedict on page 180 and Stacy’s loaded baked fries on page 90. My stoneware cookie sheet is my go-to tray for cooking my bacon in the oven. Set it to 350 and it’s done in about 20 minutes. No flipping. No turning. No attention required whatsoever. But I also love my pan for baked french fries, cookies, and pizza.

Ingredients you could include in your gift of homestead recipes

While one of these maple-inspired shirts or sweatshirts would be an awesome addition to your gift of homestead recipes, so would these ingredients…

It probably won’t come as a surprise to you when I suggest you include some wonderful all-natural sugars with your gift of homestead recipes, now would it? Add some of these wonderful sweeteners and, well, your gift of homestead recipes will be very sweet indeed.

• Include a jar of all-natural maple syrup, because the recipient can experiment with substituting all-natural maple syrup in any and every recipe in place of refined.
• Print off the conversion chart right here, so they have everything they need to cook their recipes successfully. Without refined sugar.
• I always recommend buying your honey locally, if possible, but this amazing Tupelo honey can only be harvested in this little southern corner of the U.S. And these folks right here make the most gorgeous Tupelo honey you will ever taste. It’s perfect to slather over a piece of my Maple Sandwich Bread (p. 28 in Sweet Maple) or to serve with my Maple Biscuits (p. 31 in Sweet Maple).
• If you’re giving the honey as an ingredient for the recipes, wildflower honey like this is perfect–whether it’s for my Maple Bread, or Jill’s baked peaches with honey & almonds (p.152, The Prairie Homestead Cookbook), or Stacy’s Honey Butter Sauce to use over waffles, pound cakes, or ice cream (p. 151, Stacy Lyn’s Harvest Cookbook).
• Add in a bag of one of my favorite sugars to bake with. It is so deliciously, all-naturally sweet but doesn’t raise your glucose level when you enjoy it… amazing, right? (See my Complete Guide to Sugars here for more info.)

More articles you’ll enjoy

Why you should grind your own flour

How to bake with lard (& why you should)

Everything you need to know about duck eggs

How to make maple cream

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Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs of 2018 and then one of the Top Homesteading Blogs of 2019 as well.

Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of other supplies I use for maple syrup making (as well as gardening, homeschooling, homesteading topics, nature journaling, and more).

Many readers often ask what camera I use to take the images you find here on SoulyRested. I love my Nikon; you can read more about my camera and even purchase your own here.

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

And please follow along!

And have you tried my a-MAAHZ-ing Maple Sugar Cookie recipe that’s in my Resource Library?

The post Give the Gift of Homestead Recipes first appeared on Souly Rested.

You can even grab one of these fun stickers or check out this fun drinkware that will help you keep the conversion instructions handy (the insulated mugs have the conversion information on the back).

In this podcast episode I walked through 7 health benefits of all-natural maple syrup.

And in this podcast episode and this detailed article right here you can dive deep into natural sugars (there are MANY options!) and find the perfect option for your family.

What was maple syrup originally used for?

I explain in my book, Sweet Maple, that refined sugar, like we know it today is not the way sugar is supposed to be. And it’s definitely not the way it originally was. Instead, native americas relied on maple sugar as their primary sweetener, made from the sap of maple trees. They would use maple sugar to sweeten their food and their drinks, and because it required no refrigeration it was easy to use and transport.

What else is in Sweet Maple? 3 years of my life and a whole lot of sweetness…Since I’ve spent almost three years pulling together so much maple goodness for you in one book, I had to also make autographed copies available, from my sugarbush directly to you. So grab your own autographed copy of Sweet Maple, or dive into my masterclass, Making Maple Syrup, if you want to know every detail about all things maple.

Can you bake with maple syrup instead of sugar?

You can absolutely bake with maple syrup in place of refined sugar. In fact, it’s a greatly superior choice, nutritionally and taste-wise. Scroll down to grab my conversion chart, so you can do so easily.

Is maple syrup a good substitute for sugar?

Maple syrup is all-natural, it’s filled with minerals and polyphenols, and it offers a rich, full-bodied sweetness that other sugars just can’t come close to. So yes, maple syrup is definitely a great substitute for sugar.

How much pure maple syrup do I substitute for sugar?

Some links in this article are affiliate links.

Substitute Maple Syrup for Sugar!

Scroll right to the bottom if you’re just here for the printable conversion chart that will help you use maple syrup in place of sugar in all of your recipes. And read more about baking with maple syrup here as well.

One book = three years

Yes, you read that right. One book = three years of my life. But it’s all worth it when I hear back from folks like you who tell me how Sweet Maple is a must-have…

How Sweet Maple has transformed your kitchen.

How you have some of the 30 tappable trees and live in an area of the country where you can tap and you never even knew it.

How you had no idea how easy (and fun!) it was to make 100% all-natural maple sugar.

How you learned you could tap just one tree and reap so many benefits by making sapinade (learn how in this video about making lemonade with sap.)

How Sweet Maple  has given you hundreds of ideas of ways to replace refined sugar with all-natural sugar. Every day. See some of the reviews right here.

What’s in Sweet Maple?

For three years, I’ve poured my love of this all-natural deliciousness into creating Sweet Maple. I am in awe whenever I think about it–the fact that this pure yummy goodness is flowing through the trees on my homestead, and maybe in trees in your backyard. So for three years I’ve been:

• Perfecting delicious maple-infused recipes my family loves,

• Documenting every detail I wish we knew before we tapped our first tree,

• Talking with folks around the world who are successfully tapping into the goodness of more than 30 trees that can be tapped for syrup (at least one is found in every single state in the United States).

• Pulling together fascinating research on the scientific findings of maple syrup. (Listen in to this podcast episode for all the details of the science behind amazing maple syrup.)

And now it’s available!

And now, today, I’m introducing you to this gem… now available for pre-order. I hope you want one on your coffee table, or on your kitchen cookbook shelf, and maybe a few to gift to family and friends.

I’ve written not one but two articles about gifting my book or other great products to those maple fanatics in your life:

How to give a treasured gift of one of these real food cookbooks.

Gift giving ideas for the maple fanatic in your life.

Which is healthier, sugar or maple syrup?

If you’d like some intense insight into multiple health benefits of maple syrup, I think you’ll enjoy this podcast I recorded recently.

When I recently surveyed my audience I was shocked that only 22% of you all say maple syrup is your sweetener of choice.

Given that a lot of you all follow me because I teach you how to make maple syrup and how to bake with it, this number, as small as it is, is surely astronomically higher than the general population. This has to change guys!

So here’s my gift to you!

I’m so excited for you to change up how you do things in your kitchen for the better, one tiny spoonful of all-natural maple at a time, that I made you a little conversion chart to help you substitute maple syrup for sugar in everything you make.

Feel free to bookmark this page and refer back to it often, whenever you want to substitute maple syrup for sugar. Or pin the chart right here to refer to later, or download a printer-friendly version in my Subscriber Resource Library, where you’ll find lots of ebooks, delicious recipes, and maple resources. Sign up for that right here.

Any little thing that’ll make all-natural goodness a bit easier is a very good thing, no? So pin, or print, or save this conversion chart and start substituting maple syrup for sugar today. Then hop over here to find out the items I couldn’t live without in my farmhouse kitchen.

You can use maple syrup in any recipe.

Start substituting maple syrup for refined sugar in any and every recipe!

Looking for the best 100% all-natural maple syrup at the best prices, so you can stock up and use it in all your baking? You will love this deliciously amazing maple syrup. Use code SOULYRESTED and save $$$.

HINT: be sure to pin this post or save it in some way so you can find this deal again when you’re ready to reorder.

More maple syrup inspired things:

How to make Maple Cream (my favorite way to enjoy maple!)

How to make a delicious marinade for meats with maple syrup

How to make maple ice cream

How to make DIY Coke (without all the junk you find in soda)

How to make Maple Chocolate Iced “Coffee” (spoiler: it’s not coffee at all. It’s decaf herbal tea!)

-> Remember to grab one of these fun stickers or check out this fun drinkware that will help you keep the conversion instructions handy too.

Listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.

Isaiah 55:2

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Win a Grain Mill!

Enter to win a Classic Grain Mill & free access to Fresh Flour University!

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I mean I use maple in most recipes in my farmhouse kitchen. But maple on steak? Really? Maple Steak Marinade? This one shocked even me until I discovered just how amazingly delicious my little experiment was.

I started off with a sirloin steak, roughly around 1 1/2 pounds. But before I share the marinade recipe, there are a few other things I do that make this the best steak ever…

3 Tips for Preparing a Delicious Steak

I have three tips for preparing your steak that make a world of difference:

• USE A QUICK MARINATOR.

This is a game changer. I was always forgetting to prepare ahead of time so my meat could soak for a minimum of 1/2 and hour. Using this instant marinator means I can prepare this meal even if I didn’t prepare ahead. Score.

• ADD GOOD FLAVOR.

Just salt and pepper is fine, but once I discovered this wholesome, delicious seasoning, I can’t marinate meat without it. It’s THAT good. I love it so much I asked for a discount so you could try it too… use code SWEETSALT to save 15% off your entire order.

• USE TONGS.

I used to always poke forks into my steaks. Haphazardly. Often. Now I cringe at the thought. You see, every little poke is one more hole for the wonderful juices to escape. I’d like to keep those in my steak, to up the yum factor thank you. So use tongs like these.

• SEAR FIRST.

This step always seemed like an unnecessary pain to me. Why add one more thing to the recipe? Wasn’t it just for appearance of the meat? Who cares what shade of brown it is? What I didn’t understand is the depth of flavor that searing offers my meat. It’s just too good to pass up.

• SAVE YOUR BACON GREASE.

Honestly, if you’re only going to take one of my tips to heart, this one is the one. I realize you may think I’m crazy, but trust me it’s crazy delicious… I use bacon fat to grease my cast iron before adding in my steak to sear it. Yep. Bacon fat. I save my drippings in a glass jar in my fridge.

Pork lard is also amazing for this. Check out my Complete Guide to Lard if you’d like to know more.

For a 1 1/2 pound steak, you could easily double this marinade recipe. You could even triple it, honestly. Then I seared the meat for 2 minutes on each side and transferred the cast iron skillet right from the stove to the preheated oven (preheated to 400), where it cooks until the right doneness, which was 20 minutes for me.

By the way, if you need some maple syrup, this right here is my favorite. They’re truly an awesome family-run business making some genuine maple deliciousness. Use code SOULYRESTED and save!

Click any image below if you’d like to learn more about some of the products I love.

These are affiliate links to companies and products I highly recommend.

Listen in to More About my Marinator

And now for that recipe!

Listen, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Isaiah 55:2

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So I use a lot more maple syrup these days and a lot less refined sugar.

Baking with maple syrup and sugar

What if I could suggest a substitute for sugar in your baking that is superior to refined sugar in every ways?

There are many all-natural sugars that are superior to sugar, honestly. Go here to help you decide potentially the best sugar to use.

But for our family, hands-down, maple syrup is tops, for nutrition, and availability (we are sugarmakers, afterall), and taste.

How do maple syrup and sugar compare?

… Maple syrup is actually sweeter than refined sugar…

… It will add fewer calories to your baking than refined sugar…

… It’s all-natural and completely un-processed…

… It has minerals that contribute to your overall health…

And it’s flowing right now in a tree near you!

Yep, while writing Sweet Maple, I did a lot of reading, and research, and interviewed a lot of smart people who have spent decades studying the process of making syrup and the content of syrup, and everyone agrees.

Maple syrup is good stuff.

For amazing maple-infused recipes, grab a copy of my book, Sweet Maple. And you’ll love my course too, Making Maple Sugar, if you want to know every detail about all things maple.

How much syrup is equal to sugar?

In general, you’ll only about 2/3 to 3/4 cups of maple syrup for every 1 cup of sugar that your recipe calls for. But there are a few other things to keep in mind, so keep reading.

Is sugar made from syrup?

The only sugar that is made from real, all-natural syrup is a genuine all-natural maple sugar or date sugar.

If you’re thinking of the regular white sugar in most American kitchens, rest assured not only is that sugar NOT made from all-natural syrup, but it’s highly processed. Both cane sugar and beet sugar are grown conventionally with anhydrous ammonia and both produce very simple sugars. We break down the two different options and explain more in the article I’ll link here:

What’s the best sugar to use?

Is syrup better for you than sugar?

Hands-down, all-natural maple syrup is always going to be better for you than processed, refined, bleached sugar.

Why use syrup instead of sugar?

Because it is all-natural, made with one ingredient, and not processed or refined, maple syrup is my sweetener of choice whenever possible. Find 10 reasons this is the best sweetener you could ever use right here.

So how do you bake with maple syrup?

Maple syrup is fantastic to bake with, as long as you know a few important basics. The substitution isn’t too difficult. Just remember the 3 “R”s:

Replace … Because maple is sweeter than refined sugar, you’ll want to use less. For every cup of sugar, you’ll only need about 2/3 to 3/4 cups of maple syrup.

Remove… Because you’re substituting a liquid sugar for a dry sugar, you will have to make a little adjustment in your recipe. You’ll want to find about 3 tablespoons worth of liquid that you can take out of the recipe for every cup of maple syrup you’re using.

Reduce… Because maple syrup caramelizes at a lower temperature than refined sugar, you’ll probably want to reduce your oven temperature by about 25°F.

Then go here for a very handy conversion chart for syrup and sugar (and you should probably pin the conversion chart right here).

I was elated to explain all the goodness of baking with maple–as well as demonstrate 3 of my favorite recipes in Sweet Maple–in the Northeastern Xhibition Kitchen, in Boston. Click here to watch that live stream from last week, via Northeastern’s facebook page.

Where’s a good place to start?

Don’t worry if you don’t feel like figuring out the details. You can start right here. I’ve done the hard work and recipe testing for you on these recipes:

Download the most popular recipe from my book–Maple Sandwich Bread, right here.

A Giant Maple Cookie in Cast Iron

Icing Maple Roll Out Cookies

Maple Freezer Biscuits

Maple Peanut Butter

And you’ll need the best syrup.

If you decide you want to start baking with maple syrup more often, I highly recommend this amazing syrup. Use code SOULYRESTED to save $$$.

If I’ve started a new obsession for you? I’m sorry. But you’re welcome.

Because there is so much more to do with maple syrup in addition to baking with it! I have jars of various maple sugar and maple candy at the ready on my kitchen counter at all times. (Find out how to make your own maple candy right here.) Cause this is important stuff y’all.

Make Maple Candy

Make Maple Sugar

Make Maple Cream

And there’s more…

For more about our family’s experience baking with maple, you might like this… Glenda Lehman asked me if I’d write something for them last month about baking with maple. You can read that article right here.

Did you know there are more than 30 varieties of tappable trees? (Find out what trees can be tapped for syrup here.) And at least one tappable tree is available in every state of the US except Hawaii (but there you can collect nectar from palm tree blooms for making syrup)! Dive into Maple Syrup University and you’ll know all you need to know to tap a tree and make your own syrup!

Click images below for more info…

Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food. Genesis 2:9

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Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the One of the Top Homesteading Blogs.

Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of all the supplies I use and recommend for everything from gardening, to homeschooling, to chicken care, to nature journaling, to maple syrup making.

 

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

And grab my gift to you–the most popular recipe in my book–my Maple Sandwich Bread recipe right here.

The post How to bake with maple syrup first appeared on Souly Rested.

Note from Michelle: Hey guys… I’m kinda shocked how little Facebook is sharing this post… even though it’s about the yummiest cookie known to man. (Okay, sure, I guess that could be an exaggeration… but it’s the yummiest thing I’ve made this week, for sure.) Or maybe I’m not shocked about the facebook thing, I’ve noticed they aren’t too crazy about homesteading-related issues. Readers have mentioned that they’re not seeing my content in their newsfeed lately.

Please consider subscribing to my FREE weekly encouragement so we can be sure to stay in touch. Just click here.

I try to avoid the bakery section of the local supermarket; you know the area? That place where the giant cookies are sold? And lots of other goodies that deceitfully look so all-natural, so just-baked-in-grandma’s kitchen yummy?

Nothing like Grandma’s kitchen

Fact is, there’s often nothing all-natural or genuinely the-way-grandma-made-it about the grocery store baked goods.

Those giant cookies that call my name if I steer my shopping cart in their direction? You’d think they were just made with regular old things like flour, butter, and sugar, right? But you’d be wrong. More likely high fructose corn syrup and imitation vanilla extract, just for starters.

That last one doesn’t sound so bad, I admit, until you think about how much better actual vanilla is for you over some that was synthesized in a science lab. In fact, if you actually google “how is imitation vanilla extract made” you may not ever buy it again.

I’ll make it myself, thank you

So, yes, I’d much rather make my giant cookie and know exactly what’s in it, thank you. And today I’m gonna share this crazy-yummy recipe with you. So you too can know exactly what’s in your cookie. And together we can join willpower forces and steer clear of the pseudo bakeries in our supermarket.

This cookie is so yummy, it even served as Hayley’s birthday cake. Well, one of her cakes. We celebrated double. Since we pulled off a big-barn-sweet-16-surprize party a few weeks after her birthday, the giant cookie served as her cake on her actual birthday. And, no, she had no idea another big shindig was in the works.

I shared the make-you-cry highlight moment when she realized even her best-friend-for-life was at the party over in my stories on instagram last week. If you didn’t see it, you can scroll through here. . . . if you like sweet, sappy moments caught on tape, it’s worth the click.

This post contains affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.

The cake we had for the barn shindig was big-time legit.

Thank you, my friend, Carole–you pulled off an amazing feat with that star-stopping camera-themed cake for my photographer extraordinaire.

My secret?

So, my secret? The secret that will possibly make this the best giant cookie you will ever eat? I mean, besides the fact that it’s not loaded with artificial flavorings or high fructose corn syrup? The secret is the most perfect all-natural sugar you will find anywhere. Yep, you guessed it, this amazing giant cookie is made with maple syrup. Mmmmmmmm.

If I didn’t make my own maple syrup, btw, and I seriously go through a lot of it for baking–and for making maple sugar (go here to know how to make your own maple sugar)– I’d purchase bulk sizes of syrup right here–snag the XXL size for the best price I’ve seen anywhere on maple syrup.

Wanna have a chat about why maple is so doggone wonderful? You’ll want to listen to this episode of my Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy podcast:

Don’t have syrup on hand and need to make this cookie now? I can relate, well, thankfully not to the not-having-maple-syrup issue, but to the gotta-have-that-chocolate-now issue… I gotcha covered. A recipe for this cookie without syrup is right here.

My giant pan?

My giant cast iron pan was a sweet find that I’ve used so many times for a perfect pizza. See my pizza crust recipe right here.

I love it that now I have another sweet use for this piece of cast iron wonderfulness, which is one of the many things I can’t imagine living without these days in my farmhouse kitchen. Want to see my list of the best items I recommend for any kitchen? That’s right here.

And we have mini cast iron skillets on hand at all times too, for those nights when we all want our own personal-size, warm-out-of-the-oven cookie. Topped with maple ice cream, of course. For these personal sized pans I dish out a large ball of dough right in the middle of each pan (about 3-4″ in diameter) and bake the pans at 350 for 12-15 minutes. Then I place each hot skillet on its own pottery plate, so no one gets burned. (Warning, these are big cookies. You might want to share.)

To make the extra-large cookie , you need the serving size below at 12 servings (and bake an extra 5-10 minutes).

For a 10 1/2″ skillet, set the serving size to 8.

But without further “pan”fare, on to the recipe…

Other Articles You’ll Love:

How to Make Maple Peanut Butter

How to 100% Maple Candy

How to Bake with Maple Syrup

The Tools I Insist on Having in my Farmhouse Kitchen

Follow my Maple Syrup pinterest board right here. Everything I ever write about maple gets added to that one board.

You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. Psalm 4:7

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Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs of 2018 and then one of the Top Homesteading Blogs of 2019 as well.

Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of other supplies I use for maple syrup making (as well as gardening, homeschooling, homesteading topics, nature journaling, and more).

Many readers often ask what camera I use to take the images you find here on SoulyRested. I love my Nikon; you can read more about my camera and even purchase your own here.

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

 

The post The secret to making a perfect giant cookie first appeared on Souly Rested.

If you, like me, love mason jars and a keeper cookie recipe you will surely pin this, share it on facebook, order yourself one of these cookie cutters, and then mix up a double batch of these glorious cookies that are sweetened with all-natural maple syrup and icing’d with love.

But especially today… Today, in fact, is reason to celebrate this cookie…

This post contains affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.

Since November 30th is National Mason Jar Day, these cookies are needed this week. I mean really, what better way to celebrate this joyous occasion that honors those wonderful jars that hold my maple sugar, popcorn kernels, and rice, my fresh raw milk and separated cream, maple syrup, salad dressing, o.j., lilac syrup, kombucha, and …. I’ll stop there. Let’s just say I have a lot of mason jars, shall we?

Let’s just say any size mason jar is loved around this old farmhouse, in any way I can use it.

btw, if you don’t have maple syrup on hand (first of all, I’m sorry), hop over right here for this cut out cookie recipe made with cane sugar

As for this cookie, no matter what day it is or what kind of cookie cutter you wanna use, you HAVE to hold onto this recipe. (Seriously, pin it right here for safe keeping.) Why do I love it so much? I mean aside from the fact that these cookies are delicious?

Why do I love this cookie?

I could go on and on, but I’ll give you my top 5 reasons I love this cookie:

1. This recipe uses the whole egg, in parts. I hate it when a recipe asks me to only use a yolk or an egg white and then I can’t bear to toss the other half, so I store it away in my fridge until it, more often than not, gets shoved to the back recesses where it comes close to rotting before I throw it down the drain.
2. This dough is unbelievably easy to work with. It’s not at all sticky and doesn’t require tons of cups of flour to keep it from becoming a stuck-on glob on your counter or rolling pin. In fact, it’s super easy to roll thin and still pick up.
3. Little hands can roll this dough over and over again and it’s still perfect. We’ve been using this recipe for Christmas cookies since the girls were toddlers lined up on step stools making them.
4. This cookie recipe uses all-natural sugar in the cookie, so all the sugar in the icing doesn’t bother me as much. Of course, I’ll admit I’m using all-natural maple syrup in almost all of my baking these days. (Go here for all the details on how to bake with maple syrup.)
5. But mostly, I think I love this recipe the most for the memories that are wrapped up in it for my family. I wrote about just one of many special ones right here. My mother-in-law has made thin Christmas Tree cookies with this recipe, sprinkled with tiny colored balls, since long before I knew her. Then when we were in a homeschool coop for a decade or longer, we used this recipe every December for all the kids to make cookies to deliver to the nearby nursing home. And every time we make this recipe, we pull out grandmom’s precious tin of cookie cutters. So many sweet memories are housed in those black tin walls. We pry off the lid and relive so many cherished memories.

Where can you get that cookie cutter?

This set of mason jar cookie cutters (aff link) comes with two sizes… one the same as mine I used for today’s batch of cookies and one smaller.

How can you use maple syrup in other recipes?

Hop over and print out my FREE conversion chart that will help you convert any recipe at all in your kitchen over to one made with all-natural maple syrup goodness.

Not sure why you’d want to use all-natural maple syrup in your baking? Print out this comparison chart right here.

And find out what folks are saying about my brand-new book right here–Sweet Maple, about to hit bookstores across the country. Or order your own copy of Sweet Maple right here.

If you’d like the inside scoop to how all-natural maple syrup is made, go here for step-by-step directions.

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Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of all the supplies I use and recommend for everything from gardening, to homeschooling, to chicken care, to nature journaling, to maple syrup making.

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

Need a mill but not sure which one’s best for you? Check out my Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Grain Mill.

The post Why these are my favorite cookies ever first appeared on Souly Rested.

A few decades, and three kitchens, ago my mom had a step stool custom made for the girls. It fit perfectly at the end of our kitchen peninsula, so their eager little hands could reach the dough when they helped me mix cookie batter or make biscuits.

Magic, crafted in our farmhouse kitchen

One daughter, who wasn’t even born when that white oak stool was crafted in a Mennonite woodworking shop in Pennsylvania, now crafts something magical in our New England colonial kitchen every day. She hasn’t needed that worn, scratched up stool in over a dozen years, and I even allow her to play with fire these days. Especially when she’s creating a masterpiece of hearth-baked pizza in our beehive oven, or teaching her older sister.

(Don’t worry, her older sister teaches her to machine quilt–see what I mean here–so it’s all good.)

And she’s fascinated with perfecting cooking over the open fire.

She also loves the joy of wholesome cooking and pours over research on homesteading, now that we have set down roots on 14 rural acres. Fresh, from-scratch recipes are continually cascading out from under the well-worn, stained cover of her recipe notebook. Oil- and butter-scarred handwritten scrap papers are piled on kitchen shelves and layered in our little junk drawer. Some with recipes, some with cost analysis lists, tracking individual ingredient prices so she knows if she’s saving money with each recipe.

Her favorites are the ones that are delicious, wholesome, and cost effective. These prized recipes are housed in plastic page protectors and filed in her notebook.

Of course, it’s an added bonus if the recipe efficiently uses something we’re drowning in on any given season on the farm… from ocher-brown and faintly-blue shelled treasures from the coop to foamy ivory cream we skimmed off of yesterday’s milking rewards.

If you wanna make the amazing biscuit recipe below and don’t have any heavy cream on hand, no problem. Simply substitute ¾ cup milk and ¼ melted butter–thoroughly mixed–for every one cup of cream.

Every spring, when we’re drowning in eggs on the farm, we often enjoy my grandma’s recipe for cheesy egg souffle.

How to make a good biscuit perfect

To make these (or any) biscuits extra yummy, I brush a sweet coating of maple syrup on top before putting them in the oven and then a second coating a minute before they’re done. I also love making a maple version of this biscuit recipe, which you can download in my subscriber library, just sign up right here. Mmmmmm. Seriously.

Sit down with a warm biscuit and cup of hot tea, and you just made yourself a perfect bit of heavenly minutes in your day, no? Then tomorrow enjoy a Maple Chocolate Chip Cookie with your tea and that just might get you through the week. Cause, well, maple and chocolate, need I say more? Subscribe here for immediate access to maple-infused recipes like that heavenly cookie and more.

Need a good source to purchase maple syrup? If I didn’t have my own sugarbush this is where I would be buying my syrup. (affiliate link) This sugar shack, run by the Plante family, makes some amazing all-natural, wood-fired syrup, right here in New Hampshire. As if the sheer deliciousness wasn’t enough, the owners are some of the nicest guys I know.

Wanna know the bitter truths (and joys) of owning an old farmhouse? I wrote about those here.

Wanna know where you can unearth some rustic farmhouse treasures of your own? You will LOVE this site I just discovered–Antique Farmhouse.

A gift that helped her reach her potential

Looking back almost 2 decades, I’m thankful her NaNa gave her sisters that sweet stool… it was a gift that helped one daughter reach her potential, literally, long before she even needed it. And I’m thankful that, by the grace of God, I’ve weathered very messy kitchens, grave experimentation, and oh-so-many piles of chicken-scratched, soiled recipes over the years.

It’s never easy–come to think of it, the process called “parenting” is always rather messy– but I’m going to keep encouraging all my daughters to discover what they’re passionate about, provide what they need to reach their goals, and be willing to help them clean up the messes they make along the way.

Certainly, it’s a hard journey, but there are many moments to savor on this safari. Delicious tastes on the trek. We might even enjoy easy freezer biscuits and pies on the pilgrimage (yeah, I know I’m pushing it with the corny alliteration).

See this post for the most amazingly delicious strawberry pie you’ll ever make.

And check out her beautiful fire-baked pizza in this post.

“Let’s not become weary… for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

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The post The secrets to delicious, make-ahead biscuits first appeared on Souly Rested.