Maple Syrup and Birthday Cupcakes
This past weekend a good friend from high school was visiting Boston. K had a conference here last week and stayed to hang out this weekend. On top of hanging out with friends, Butler made it to the Final Four! K went to Butler and is the president of his local alumni club!
On Saturday we decided to partake in some local fun by heading up to New Hampshire to go to a maple house where they boil maple syrup. We had beautiful weather on Saturday. It was a bit chilly but sunny and not a cloud in the sky. After arriving at the Grant Family Maple House, we had some food and got in line to learn all about how maple syrup is made.
What we learned is that the sap from the trees has about 2-3% sugar in it straight from the tree. At that percentage, it would take 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup!! So they first condense the sap until it reaches about 8% sugar. The sap is then boiled to evaporate off the water.
Once the temperature reads 7 degrees above the boiling point of water, you have syrup! The guy in the maple house even explained how they use a baraometer on the wall to get the barometric pressure so they know the exact boiling temperature of water for that given day. It was all very scientific and extremely interesting.
The small bottles of maple syrup were a sample from each batch they had made at the maple house this season. The guy explained that as the season goes on, the syrup tends to get darker due to the change in the amount of sugar in the sap.
Of course, we had to get some maple products while we were there. Obviously, maple syrup. We also got some maple candies, some maple sugar, and some maple pepper. Can’t wait to find creative ways to use the sugar and pepper. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know!
Also, since K’s birthday was last week, I made him some cupcakes to celebrate. I went with my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe. I love that you can whip these up by dirtying only one bowl and using a whisk! I dipped them in some ganache and topped with festive sprinkles. Aren’t they pretty?
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Oh my word!!
Pass me a spoon! This sounds amazing, Jen!
I need this ice cream right now!
I absolutely love cookie dough ice cream and this looks like a fabulous one! I love your bowls, too 🙂
beantownbaker — June 24th, 2013 @ 3:47 pm
Thanks! They’re from Pier 1.
Wow… I’m not a cookie dough ice cream fan for the same reason, but this is amazing. How much do you think the coconut milk plays in the flavor?
beantownbaker — June 24th, 2013 @ 8:25 pm
I personally don’t find coconut milk very coconuty. I know some people do. I think you could use the cow’s milk varieties in the recipe and it would taste similar. I just have to use the coconut milk since i can’t eat cow’s milk.
I love this! Ice cream has to be my favorite dessert, this looks amazing 🙂
I made this recipe from Tracey a couple of weeks ago too (I haven’t post about it yet) – so good!!!
beantownbaker — June 27th, 2013 @ 9:11 pm
Isn’t it? It’s definitely one of my favorite ice cream recipes to date!
This sounds delicious! I’m with you–regular cookie dough ice cream is a snooze. (Unless I’m sharing a pint with someone who doesn’t mind if I go through and pick out all the goodies–but let’s be real–everyone minds!) I’ll have to try this variation–it sounds like the perfect solution!
beantownbaker — June 28th, 2013 @ 7:17 am
I agree completely – everyone does mind!
This looks amazing!!! We would love it if you would link up at our We Scream For Ice Cream linky party/giveaway:
http://www.lifewiththecrustcutoff.com/we-scream-for-ice-cream-linky-party/
Live the whole month of July.
Hosted by:
http://www.lifewiththecrustcutoff.com/ Parrish @ Life with the Crust Cut Off
http://thissillygirlslife.com/ Dana @ This Silly Girl’s Life
We hope to see you there!
beantownbaker — July 3rd, 2013 @ 5:05 pm
Thanks for the link!
Cookie dough ice cream is my favorite and this recipe makes me want to buy an ice cream maker immediately! Which kind do you recommend?
beantownbaker — July 6th, 2013 @ 11:09 am
I have the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer. If you don’t have a Kitchenaid mixer, I’ve heard good things about the Cuisinart ice cream maker.
I’ve never made cookie dough ice cream but am wanting to try this one. Is there a way to substitute the egg yolks or leave it out?
Thanks!
beantownbaker — April 16th, 2014 @ 6:00 pm
I would assume you could find a Philadelphia style ice cream recipe to use as the base with some brown sugar in it to give it more of a cookie dough taste. I wouldn’t recommend just leaving them out of this specific recipe though.