Calories
There’s a disadvantage* to going for a lovely long** hack*** on this mare that you’re now so droolingly fond of that when Jenny told you that someone really badly wanted to buy her you almost had a heart attack†. It’s that you come home again all mellowed out†† and at peace with the world and fail to plunge instantly into Hyperactive Catch Up It’s the Middle of the Afternoon Already Mode. So it’s past 11 o’clock at night and I’m eating dinner.
But I figured after yesterday I should give you a Sunshiney recipe. I was going to give you my/our maple cornbread, but on my way there my eye was caught by:
I’m Sorry, I Had One for Tea and I Don’t Have Room for Dinner Bars
Rich Short Crust:
¾ c slightly salted soft butter
¼ c maple syrup
¼ c brown sugar
2 rounded c all-purpose flour: so, say, 2 c plus 2 T
Most of the time you can get away with unsoft butter for creaming–you just need to use a little more muscle–but to cream it successfully with maple syrup you really want your butter soft. So, cream the butter, maple syrup, and brown sugar together, and then add the flour a little at a time for the first cup; you can add the second cup faster. (I start with a wooden spoon and end up with my hands. You can use an electric mixer. Feh.) Pat this over the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch pan. The original recipe tells you to chill it till you’re going to use it. Chill it? Are you crazy? And then have to let it get back to room temperature so your glass pan won’t crack? Maybe he uses aluminium. Aluminium doesn’t cross my threshold. Furthermore, I am not big on thinking ahead. I’ll be slamming the crust together because I’m running out of time to get the filling made. I have also been known to pre-cook the base–oh, ten minutes or so at 350, not long–the filling is pretty wet.
Filling:
2 eggs
1 c maple syrup
1 ½ tsp vanilla
¼ c flour [sic]
½ tsp baking powder
1 c chopped nuts (original recipe merely says: not peanuts, too pedestrian. I use either mixed, or hazelnuts. I have at least two maple syrup and pecan recipes, so I don’t use pecans), or a little more
1 c chopped dates, or raisins, or mixed, depending on how you’re feeling about chopping dates today (we’ve had this conversation: I don’t think using scissors with or without water or oil works all that well: I think chopping dates is just one of those penances of being human and having a sweet tooth), or a little more. I like one third golden raisins, one third sultanas or currants, and one third dates, when I happen to have all of these on hand at the same time.
1 c chocolate chips, or a little more. . . .
Beat the wet stuff together thoroughly. Mix the flour and the baking powder in with the dry stuff; then add to wet stuff and stir. Pour into your shortcrust pan and bake 425°F about 10-12 minutes, then reduce heat to 350° and bake about another 20-30 minutes. Cool thoroughly before cutting.
The original recipe for these, the maple cornbread, and quite a few other things you may see here over time, are in The Maple Syrup Baking and Dessert Cookbook by Ken Haedrich, c 1985, which is a slender little, I think self-published, paperback with about thirty recipes in it. You can, I discover, now buy:
http://www.amazon.com/Maple-Syrup-Cookbook-Recipes-Breakfast/dp/1580174043/ref=pd_sim_b_6
. . . which is still Haedrich but two or three times bigger and fatter and . . . loooonging . . . but there is no POINT because I live in ENGLAND where maple syrup is sold in thimble-sized bottles for £10 per. When I first moved over here you could barely find it in thimbles. Have I done my maple syrup rant here yet? Maple syrup stopped being cheap decades ago, but when you live where it grows (so to speak) you can still get great sloshing vats of it for reasonable, and furthermore, you can get it in grades. Haedrich even says you want the dark amber because it costs the least and has the strongest flavour. This is true. I prefer the dark amber anyway, but in baking you really want it or the flavour is overwhelmed and then it gets really stupid, buying the stuff to not be able to taste it . . . but the thimble-sized bottles with the quaint sealing-waxed stoppers are always the pale stuff which if I’m desperate I’ll eat on waffles but there’s no point in cooking with it. *sob*
I was originally going to give you the maple cornbread partly because it’s something from SUNSHINE that I actually still eat. How does Mrs Bialosky or Maud do it? Mrs B is a bit squarish but Maud is a skinny little thing. However, I’ve had a couple of friends tell me that when menopause is over your metabolism may wake back up out of its torpor and begin to function again. I live in hope. At which point I’ll start bringing maple syrup back with me in my suitcase, supposing the hellhounds’ digestion ever chills out and I ever go to America again. Hey, I wonder if what they need is maple syrup??
* * *
* No! I don’t believe it!
** Although part of why it was so long is that the footing stank. Or sank. There was barely anywhere you wanted to risk trotting, let alone a gallop. And even aside from questions of slipperiness some of us riders are conscious of what shod hooves can do to sodden ground, and don’t do it.^
^ Some of us worry about galloping hellhound feet. Those cannonball starts are hard on the landscape.
*** With, as it happens, the woman Whose Fault It All Is. This is the woman I met on that historic day what, maybe two months ago now, she out hand-walking her convalescent horse, and I restraining hellhounds with difficulty,^ and whom I lingered to talk to long enough that it meant I then met Jenny for the crucial conversation about the Connemara mare. I’d've missed her if I hadn’t stopped.
^ After the initial burst of irrepressible enthusiasm they usually remember that they’re under the heavy aegis of the Least Fun Human on the planet and subside, although Darkness does a very good line in Protest Wails. Chaos is the one who has retained the mmmm, mmmm, mmmm puppy whine, most often heard when I have been so cruel as to go upstairs and close the gate so he can’t follow, but Darkness is obviously saying, I am a dignified, grown-up dog and you are impeding my individual expression. –True.
† No, I won’t sell her, said Jenny. We’re all too fond of her.
†† Even my knees seem to be planning to forgive me for an hour and forty minutes in the saddle. I think. But ask me tomorrow morning. When I’m running to the tower.
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† No, I won’t sell her, said Jenny. We’re all too fond of her.
Oh thank GOODNESS. I was nervous through the whole post. I would miss stories about Connie the Wonder Horse, and also, I’d hate that you might have to blog from jail asking readers to come bail you out because you went insane over losing Connie. I mean, we’d help you out, but geeze… :S
Not insane. I’d coshed the person who bought her. :)
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And then we’d never get PICTURES. Any chance of pictures soon?
******** going for a lovely long hack on this mare that you’re now so droolingly fond of
I think the best view in the world is that framed by a pair of grey ears ahead of you, and there’s a lovely picture by snaffles of a landscape with just a neck and pricked ears in the centre (grey of course) with a title along those lines…
Where would I find this?
It’s funny about Connie, because from on top she has a lovely long graceful TB neck and only a *slight* case of Mare Ears! :) Watching her from the ground . . . mainly you see the grass belly!
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here’s the print – http://eu.easyart.com/prints/Snaffles/The-Finest-View-In-Europe-108994.html
Mare ears??
It’s when you can see the grass belly from behind that you really have to worry!
Finest view! Absolutely! Even rather looks like Connie–not just grey but the shape! Mare ears, yes, they’re LONGER. Some mares have nearly donkey ears . . . heavens, have you really not known this joke all your horsey life??
Nope – it’s amazing what useful things I pick up here lol.
I like ears which point in to each other at the tips – apparently it’s the arab in connemaras, but I like the romance of all those spanish horses swimming to Ireland as the Armada sank, and passing on pointy-eared genes over the centuries :)
Yes, me too, and Connie’s ears tip in–from her TB side or her Connemara side, take your pick! And those Spanish horses probably had Arab in them! (I know Andalusians are a really old breed too but I can’t believe they and Arabs aren’t *close*. . . . )
And Lusitano – there’s an Iberian breeds show down the road at Stoneleigh annually and one day i won’t be able to resist temptation… Weren’t all those snorting steeds in royal portraits andalusian?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Charles_I_with_M._de_St_Antoine_%281633%29%3B_Anthony_Van_Dyck.jpg
http://www.weissgallery.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=52&tabindex=51&objectid=39118&categoryid=2636
and is this what connie looks like when tigers hide under hedges? ;)
?? I think my links aren’t working. All I’m getting is more Charles.
I don’t know as much about the Lusitano except it’s the same family. And the usual snorting steed certainly LOOKS Andalusian. :)
Since Andalusia was North African Arab for 600 years, I should thin k they’s be first cousins at least.
They’re just *very similar.* Talat in HERO is more or less Andalusian (never mind the geography) but he’s also inspired by an Arab stallion I used to know.
This sounds super rich. Maple syrup falls under the category of things I could happily live without. As slight torture, I should tell you my mother’s favourite ice cream is maple syrup and walnut. I wonder if the recipe works with honey? Or petimezi? Not that you would want to a. make it or b. eat it in the summer heat here. I long for some of your rain.
I expect it would, because I used to substitute maple syrup for corn syrup all the time when making pecan pies.
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I would have said that’s two different things–when you use maple syrup you want the FLAVOUR. Then it’s maple-pecan pie. Just pecan pie . . . doesn’t have maple syrup in it.
Well, it WAS maple-pecan pie, although still pretty sweet. Corn is a big-time allergen and it’s on my list, so I had to ditch corn syrup and improvise.
Oh, no *corn*? You poor thing!!!!!!! I’d rather lose tomatoes (which I have) any day!
Ahh, maple syrup. That’s one of the things I make a point of buying at the state fair every year–that, and stone ground cornmeal, and honey, all direct from the producer.
Ever had shagbark hickory syrup? It’s turning up a lot around here lately–less sweet and slightly more smoky-tasting than maple. I’m not sure I’d swap it into a recipe written for maple without careful experimentation… but I’m intrigued by its possibilities. Unfortunately it’s grossly expensive, even here in hickory country–not that many people making it.
Drat–we just planted four hickorys–guaranteed the wrong kind! :) No, I don’t know it. Good over waffles? –Yes, state fairs with maple syrup and corn meal so fresh it *still smells like corn* make me homesick in a way that raccoons, say, do not. :)
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Ah–I’d miss raccoons, too, if I was in your position. :) God, I love them, even as they’re going through my compost heap and squeaking like a badly tuned radio set to 11… But you’d be hard put to find a creature I don’t love on some level. With one notable exception–my most primal fear. :)
Shagbark Hickory syrup is great over pancakes, waffles, and oatmeal. As I’ve now done some web-digging, I can report that it is not made quite like maple syrup–it’s a base sugar syrup flavored with an extract of hickory bark, and apparently the only people making it are here in Indiana. I had no idea. The producer also sells it to our local Belgian brewhouse, who use it in making a slightly sweet, smoky, dark beer called The Black (no relation to the horse) which is hands down the best cold-winter-night beer I know.
State Fair time is almost here–let me know if you need cornmeal! :)
With one notable exception–my most primal fear. :)
************ Broccoli? :)
No, but I’d take some Shagbark Hickory syrup. :)
***** Broccoli? :)
Hey, I think there’s good reason to fear broccoli! Check this video for the true tale of terror.
But no. It’s centipedes. I’m petrified of the things; they’ve been voted “Bug Most Likely To Make Me Rocket Straight Backwards 16 Linear Feet Upon Sight” about 25 years running now.
Will see what I can do on the syrup–farmer’s market’s been rained out the last few Saturdays, but I’ll see if the Hickoryworks folks are still coming this weekend and report back! :)
Oh, arrgh! The link went dead while I was clicking on it, and is determined to STAY dead. Waaaaaah!
I don’t *like* centipedes but I can mostly cope. Cheez, woman, how do you cope with GARDENING?
Yep, that’s a busted link all right! Maybe I goofed coding it. Here, cut and paste this into your broswer:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DT1YLp1NL_k
I don’t often encounter large centipedes while gardening. And even when I do–I’ve got steel-toe boots, long pants, and gloves on. In the house, when I might be barefoot? That’s grounds for full on evacuation. I’m completely, unreasonably terrified of them. Fast, aggressive, with drippy poison fangs…. ***shudder***
Black Bear, where are you from? Here, the wierdest thing I’ve seen is kudzu honey – thick and sludgey and dark. I’m completely intrigued by shagbark hickory syrup.
Robin, shame on you, I got fatter just reading that recipe. Now I’m going to have to try out my new rocker-knife-&-cutting-board set on dates. :)
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I got fatter just reading that recipe
********* Go find a horse to ride! Snork!
Howdy, geekmom–I’m from central Indiana. And I’m guessing from the kudzu reference that I was right, and you’re from Birmingham Alabama not Birmingham England. :) Yes?
Favorite honeys here are tulip/poplar, black raspberry, basswood, and buckwheat. I’d try the kudzu, if I could! Sounds intriguing.
That’s just another recipe to make to eat when my intestines get fully recovered. I had a chocolate eclair today and successfully digested it. Small victories! =)
****Some of us worry about galloping hellhound feet. Those cannonball starts are hard on the landscape.****
Stops on wet ground are pretty destructive, too, as well as risky. Which again leads to **** the heavy aegis of the Least Fun Human on the planet*** coming into play. I’d probably want to flip a coin with you for that title. The Alpha Bitch found a large and very active toad a couple of nights ago; needless to say she did not get to play with it . . .
I am making cookies for sustenance on a trip east and played around with a molasses cookie recipe–I substituted maple syrup for the molasses and threw dried cherries into the dough. I don’t expect a lot of maple flavor with the spices in there, but I didn’t want a heavy dose of molasses with the cherries. I will bake them tomorrow (whoops, later today!) and see how they come out. Yes, it is nice to go to a sugar house and buy a half gallon of maple syrup without going to the bank first–yay New England. You have my sympathy for your maple-deprived state.
Good to hear that Connie isn’t going anywhere and you don’t have to resort to desperate measures!
Yes–I only barely stopped them catching a fledgling today. Eeek.
You can always substitute ordinary sugar for SOME of the molasses. I often use white sugar and molasses in varying percentages for brown sugar. Less so now that you can get honest *unrefined* brown sugar–old fashioned brown sugar is just . . . white sugar with some molasses added *back* . . .
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“However, I’ve had a couple of friends tell me that when menopause is over your metabolism may wake back up out of its torpor and begin to function again.”
It does, and I’m living proof of it – put on I-don’t-know-how-much weight while I was going through it, and now it’s over, have lost at least 3 stone (42 lbs). Need to lose a bit more, though, and my body’s “set point” seems to be higher than it was before, but hey, I’ll take it!
Would your recipe work with golden syrup, or even black treacle, since maple syrup is iffy over here?
Fingers crossed. . . .
The flavour is reliant on the maple syrup. You can certainly experiment with other things but then you’re inventing a *new* recipe.
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*sigh of relief that Connie isn’t being sold*
*looking at recipe… yummm.*
Hmmm- how much would it cost to ship maple syrup, do you think?
I am lucky enough to be one of those people who ” lives where it grows”, as you say… there is a farm five-ish minutes from my house [down the road,up another, up AND down another[lots of winding, hilly roads in my town!] and you’re there!], and they sell freshly tapped maple syrup when the season rolls around… Not as good as the Maine variety, I suppose, but better than nothing!
*plotting*
Anyway, must dash, but I had to let you know- and find out how it might work- if it wouldn’t break while flying over oceans and things, or leak out and arrive as a maple syrup-soaked cardboard box….. uck. no good, that. Oh well, I’ll keep thinking!
Hugs and chocolate,
–Julia
Meanwhile you can think of me while you eat your waffles. :)
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Robin,
I would love it if you shared the recipe for your/Sunshine’s cinnamon rolls. I have been craving them ever since she described them to Con.
Oh… my.
If you ever published a recipe book (I hope you do – there’s so much need for um digestively challenged recipes that are actually *tasty*) I can only imagine it being like Isabelle Allendes’
http://www.amazon.com/Aphrodite-Memoir-Senses-Isabel-Allende/dp/0060930179/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215970356&sr=1-1 if you haven’t experienced it yet. Sorry about the long link.
Actually, on second thoughts: no. Judging by the ones I’ve tried so far, I’d be sunk. Literally, metaphorically and figuratively.
THANK YOU! :-)
I am gaining a reputation among my friends for the feed-people gene. And loving it.
I am gaining a reputation among my friends for the feed-people gene
LOL! Good!
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Ye Gods, Robin, have mercy on fellow P-M sufferers, please! This recipe looks wonderful, but – and I say this after spending the entire weekend slaving aerobically over a bed that had to be completely dug out and replanted – I swear I can feel the calories coming off the screen towards me and settling in the usual places..:)
And yes, it would be wonderful if maple syrup (the sort I use is a darkish brown, don’t know what grade that would be) was a little less likely to cause one to add to the national debt if purchased in any quantity.
Very glad to hear that the rides with Connie are going so enjoyably.
I’m passing this recipe along to a friend who is an absolute *fiend* for anything maple. She eats maple butter on toast for breakfast most days(:
Thanks!
(plus, she loves baking)
:)
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Glad to hear that Connie is to stay.
I have a confession: I’ve levied a Maple Syrup Tax on all visitors who come from the Northwest US to see me in Germany. Thus far, it’s worked – I haven’t run out of syrup yet and, as I send my friends and family home with lots of chocolate, they still come to visit and don’t complain about the tax.
LOL! Yes, I did that for a while–northeasterners in my case.
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