Maple Syrup Recipes
Sugar comes in an array of shapes and forms. Maple syrup is a great replacement for white sugar or other artificial sweeteners in your favorite recipes if you don’t have a more traditional sweetener on hand or simply want to mix things up. Use maple syrup in recipes to add all-natural sweetness and maple flavor to your cooking creations. Make sure your maple syrup is at room temperature as cold syrup can cause other ingredients to clump together.
As a rule-of-thumb, substitute one cup of sugar with 3/4 to one cup of pure maple syrup. Don’t forget to reduce the other liquids in your recipes by about 2–4 tablespoons for each cup of syrup used.
If you are replacing another liquid sweetener, such as honey, agave, or molasses, substitute with a 1:1 ratio. Keep in mind any of these substitutions will affect the overall taste, and sometimes even the color of your finished product—such as in the case of subbing maple syrup for molasses.
Maple syrup compliments so many baking recipes extraordinarily well, but also consider recipes where the maple syrup can be the star. Some examples include maple fudge, maple candies, maple candied nuts, maple cookies and donuts, maple cream chocolates, and maple bark.
Maple Syrup in Vegan Baking & Other Recipes
Vegans do not consume products made, derived, or processed from animals. This means that certain sweeteners are off the table when baking or cooking vegan recipes, including honey and even sugar in some cases.
White sugar or common “table sugar” is sometimes processed with bone char to achieve that bright white color. Obviously, this is not vegan-friendly.
But, another great sugar substitute is pure maple syrup! Not only is maple syrup vegan, but it adds a unique and delicious taste to desserts and baked goods.
Use Maple Syrup on Foods
Not only can you bake with maple syrup, but as you probably already know if you’ve ever enjoyed a big stack of syrup slathered pancakes, it goes perfectly on top of many foods too.
Here are some common foods you can try adding maple syrup to:
- breakfast foods like French toast, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, and chia pudding
- on top of desserts like ice cream, apple pie, pumpkin pie, maple pecan pie, donuts, and cinnamon rolls
- coffee or tea in place of sugar
- roasted root vegetables
- popcorn, trail mix, or granola—for a deletable sweet and salty snack
- salad dressings and marinades (or homemade maple mustard instead of honey mustard)
- cocktails (or mocktails)
For more ideas, check out our favorite ways to use maple syrup in recipes.
What is Maple Extract?
Pure maple extract is made from 100% pure maple syrup and alcohol, like vodka, and is often used as a flavoring substitute for maple syrup or maple sugar.
Imitation maple extract is common in stores and contains ingredients such as caramel color, corn syrup solids, artificial flavors, and molasses solids.
Recipes for certain frostings, maple glazes, and icings often call for the use of maple extract. The reason for this is to add the rich flavor of maple without varying the texture and consistency of the recipe.
You can make maple extract by combining one cup of maple syrup with one cup of vodka and letting the mixture sit in the refrigerator for three days. The resulting extract will be thicker than when you started. Other recipes online suggest using fenugreek seeds to make imitation extract.
The best substitute for maple extract is maple syrup. You can slowly warm and then boil maple syrup on the stovetop to thicken it. Take care to watch the syrup as it could quickly boil over or burn.
