I can personally attest that this caramel sauce made with all-natural maple syrup, is delicious.

How to use Maple Caramel Sauce

I love to use this maple caramel sauce:

• on cinnamon rolls,
• in a cup of tea,
• drizzled over cookies or ice cream, and
• (my favorite) added generously to a latte.

Not much better than a Salted Maple Caramel Latte if you ask me.

Salted Maple Caramel Sauce

Dive in and make some of this today… your world will be better for it.

I wouldn’t joke about something so good…

Ingredients for Salted Maple Caramel Sauce

1 cup maple syrup

2 TB butter

 1/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 tsp Redmond salt

Directions for making Salted Maple Caramel Sauce

1. Boil maple syrup in a medium-sized saucepan with pretty tall sides (it will bubble up a LOT) until a candy thermometer reads 225. (Don’t let it reach the softball stage.)
2. Turn off the heat and add in butter, stirring until it’s all melted.
3. Add cream and salt and stir, just until all mixed.
4. Store in a glass jar in fridge for many weeks.

Notes about Salted Maple Caramel Sauce

• A good candy thermometer is necessary to get this right, but they’re not expensive and they’re handy to have in the kitchen. This is a good one.
• If you choose a pot that’s not quite big enough and your maple syrup bubbles treacherously close to the top of your pan (trust me, it happens quickly!), don’t panic. Have a piece of butter ready to toss in your pot. The bubbles will instantly recede. It’s a simple sugarmaking trick (more about how to make your own maple syrup here) that works every time.
• This caramel sauce is delicious on cinnamon rolls, in a cup of tea, drizzled over cookies, ice cream, yogurt, and (my favorite) added generously to a latte. Not much better than a Salted Maple Caramel Latte if you ask me… iced and hot, both delicious. 

The post Caramel Sauce (Easy Recipe With Maple Syrup) first appeared on Souly Rested.

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.

Ahhhh, I’m glad you asked.

I’ve been making maple syrup for a decade and maple cream for almost as long. And it’s–hands down–my favorite way to enjoy maple syrup.

This is my favorite way to consume my favorite sugar, so, friend, let me rock your world and tell you exactly how to make some amazing maple cream.

Fox News asked me about maple cream

I guess I’m getting a little famous for my creamy talent, Fox News even called for an interview… Read the full article of my talk with Fox News here.

What is maple cream made of?

Maple cream is one ingredient. Pure, genuine maple sap, from a maple tree, collected drop-by-drop and boiled down into syrup then boiled down even more and agitated just right (aka stirred a lot).

I don’t know how one ingredient (espeially one as “odd” as tree sap) can be so angelically delicious, but folks, there’s no denying this. Maple cream is possibly the most glorious taste you will ever experience.

How to Make Maple Cream

You’ll need 2 quarts of genuine maple syrup to make roughly 5 cups of maple cream.

Maple cream, just like any other confection made from maple syrup, starts off as supersaturated syrup. The exact temperature of the syrup, how you stir (or don’t stir) the syrup, and how you cool the syrup all have an impact on what you wind up with. All of these factors impact the size of the crystals that form in your concoction. 

As you heat it to make sugar or cream, the syrup becomes viscous and, if left alone, will start to solidify (think hard candy) before crystals can form and grow.

On the other hand, if that hot, supersaturated syrup is stirred while it’s cooling, it will form crystals. I’m told that the mechanical motion of the spoon causes microscopic crystal nuclei to form (or something like that). Basically, if you keep stirring, you form crystals, mix those tiny crystals throughout the thickened syrup, and cause them to grow in size and increase in number. Depending on what you want to make, you’ll need different sizes of crystals.

For the purpose of this article, we’ll turn those crystals into maple cream. Here’s how…

Maple Cream, step by step

Ingredients:

2 quarts 100% maple syrup

Directions:

1. Pour maple syrup into a large pan that is at least twice the size of the volume of the syrup. The syrup will bubble and rise. A lot.
2. Insert a candy thermometer into the pan, attached to the side and not touching the bottom of the pan.
3. Boil until the syrup reaches a temperature of 234°F (or 22°F above the boiling point of water where you live), this may take 20 minutes or more.
4. While your syrup is rapidly boiling, prepare an ice bath, filling an extra-large bowl (a good big bigger than your pan) at least 1/2 way with ice cubes.
5. When boiling syrup reaches the right temperature, immediately move your pan into the ice bath.
6. Watch the temperature of your syrup closely until it reached 100°F (this took 25 minutes the last time we made maple cream and I thought to actually time the process), then start stirring, with a sturdy spoon. We like to have 2-3 people on hand and switch out the duty every few minutes. We stirred for 15 minutes before we wound up with cream.

Notes about making maple cream

• As you stir, you’ll notice your contents getting lighter in color and thicker in consistency, until suddenly, like magic, you’ve made the most delicious form of sweetness know to man. (Okay, I may be a little bias…)
• You’ll notice a color change as you work through the steps. It’s a dark color at first (assuming your syrup is dark) pand turns into a light, almost peanut butter color.
• You’ll hear pops occationally as you stir. This is normal.
• It may look a little “stringy” as you stir. But keep strenuously stirring. 
   

What’s the difference between maple butter and maple cream?

Sugarmakers will refer to this delicacy as “maple cream.” Manufacturers will occationally add butter to it and then it’s officially “maple butter.” But maple cream is 100% maple syrup. Zero anything else.

How long does maple cream last?

If your maple cream is sealed well it can last at room temperature for quite a while, but once it’s opened you do need to refrigerate it.

You’ll notice the maple cream will most likely separate over time (no problem if you have liquid maple syrup forming on the top, just mix it back in before enjoying), but it will last for many long months in the fridge.

More recipes if you like making maple cream

• How to make maple sugar
• How to make maple candy
• How to use maple syrup in baking

And be sure to Download my FREE Pantry Checklist and all the discounts on the best ingredients

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“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Cor. 10:31

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I was writing my book and reaching out to sugarmakers across the country, asking what they loved to do most with their syrup. Numerous people told me they love making maple granola. Maple Granola? Why had I never thought of this? I knew immediately I wanted to know how to do this wonderful thing.

I already knew how important gut health is. That was one reason I had been making our family’s own kombucha for years. (Kombucha is a delicious, carbonated fruit drink made by fermenting tea. Read more about that in these articles. And learn how to make your own.)

In addition to enjoying kombucha, snacking on high-fiber foods like oats, nuts, and seeds increases gut health.

And granola fills you up with good stuff, slowing down the emptying of your stomach and increasing digestion time, which means you feel fuller for longer.

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

Could you help me with this?

Hi, I’m Michelle. A backyard sugarmaker in New England, and author of Sweet Maple.

Please consider helping me support sugarmaking education worldwide with every purchase of the SoulyRested Swag. You’ll find the latest designs right here (like the one I’m wearing here) .

There are lots of great reasons to snack on granola

• Granola can improve gut health. I’ve already covered this point (above), but I didn’t want to leave it off this list. Granola has been found to increase levels of healthy gut bacteria. In fact, studies have shown what we all already knew–granola is a much better choice than refined breakfast cereals.
• Granola can offer numerous antioxidants. Ingredients such as coconut, chia seeds, and Brazil nuts are good sources of antioxidants.
• Granola is a source of good fat. The fat you’ll find in homemade granola is the good stuff. I’m talking about the heart-healthy, unsaturated fats in nuts and the good-for-you omega-3 fats in seeds.
• Granola can improve blood pressure. High-fiber ingredients like oats and flax seeds can reduce blood pressure, according to scientific studies like this one.
• Granola can reduce bad cholesterol levels. Oats are another good source of fiber that helps reduce bad cholesterol levels.
• Granola can reduce blood sugar levels. It seems counterintuitive, but dried fruit–as well as whole grains, nuts, and seeds–may help control blood sugar.

Why make your own granola?

Even the ingredient list on healthy-leaning brands can contain some ingredients you need a dictionary to pronounce.

Store-bought granola may be loaded with way more sugar than you bargain for. And just because you scan the label for high-fructose corn syrup, extra unnecessary sugar can go by healthier-sounding names as well, like evaporated cane juice, molasses, brown rice syrup, and oat syrup solids—those are all added sugars.

On the other hand, when you’re making your own granola and when you know every ingredient in your granola, you can minimize added sugar and fat.

Of course, nuts and seed are still full of calories, so don’t get caught in the trap of thinking it’s okay to eat too much, since you can argue that is is, after all, good for you.

Maple Mango Granola

Ingredients:

• 4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 ½ cup raw nuts and/or seeds (I used 1 cup sunflower seeds, 1/4 cup walnut pieces,  and 1/4 cup honey roasted peanuts)
• 1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt (I use this one. Use code SOULYRESTED for 15% off.)
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (this is the best)
• 2 scoops (6 TB) protein powder (optional, see notes)
• ½ cup oil (I use this one)
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I like this one)
• ⅔ cup dried fruit, chopped if large (I used dried mangos w a little bit cranberries)

Storing Your Homemade Granola

I store my granola in a glass jars with these airtight lids, which happen to be the same lids I love using for my second ferment kombucha. Bonus, the nifty handle makes both my granola and kombucha super easy to grab and take on the run, which i happen to do often.

While I’ve kept my Maple Mango Granola for months without any problem, you may want to freeze your granola if you won’t be using it all within a few weeks.

More Food You Can Make (Better) Yourself:

DIY Everything Bagel Seasoning

DIY Taco Seasoning

DIY Giant Cookie

DIY Kombucha (Why making it is better & cheaper than buying it)

DIY Sourdough Pizza Crust

Pizza Crust (without sourdough)

Uncaffeinated tea that tastes like coffee (seriously!)

DIY Peanut Butter

And I list my favorite tools in my homestead kitchen right here.

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. Ecclesiastes 3: 12-13

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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 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:

The post Maple Mango Granola first appeared on Souly Rested.