Maple Sugar Cinnamon Rolls * Vermont Inspired Recipes

Maple Sugar Cinnamon Rolls

for rolls

• 2 tablespoons yeast
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup of warm water
• 3/4 cup of warm whole milk
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/2 melted butter
• 1 egg
• 3 1/2-4 cups of unbleached flour

for filling

• 2 tablespoons of cinnamon 
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of maple sugar- we use Butternut Mountain Farm

for frosting glaze

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of butter
• 1/2 cup pure Vermont Maple Syrup - we use Butternut Mountain Farm

Using stand mixer add yeast, water, milk salt and sugar to mixing bowl. Mix slightly and allow the yeast to grow. 2-5 minutes.

Add melted butter and egg. Mix together. Using the dough hook add 1 cup of flour and mix. Allow to sponge up the flour for 5 minutes. Then slowly add one cup of flour at a time mixing until incorporated. Continue to kneed the dough on low for about 5 minutes.  The trick with dough is to make sure you don't use too much flour. The dough will be smooth but not too sticky and not too dry.

Spray a baking sheet and place dough into middle of pan then place in oven for 45 minutes to rise and double in size.

While dough is rising mix together the dry ingredients for the filling. Soften the butter in the microwave to the point just before melting.

Once the dough has risen to punch it down. Dust countertop with flour and roll dough into a large rectangle about 15 x 20 inches.
Spread softened butter cover the entire surface of the rolled out dough. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mixture over the butter.
Roll dough up. Cut into 2-inch pieces using a piece of bakers twine.
Place on a baking sheet. Allow to rise in a warm place until doubled for about an hour.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until just turning golden brown.

Maple Sugar Walnut Blondies Recipe * Vermont Inspired Recipes

When we visited Vermont for Camp Gathering-Vermont this past April we visited just at the end of the maple sugaring season.  A lot of people think of fall in Vermont and they think maple syrup but the maple sugaring season is in the very early spring when the days are warming up but it's still below freezing at night. This is when the sap flows.
To the warm flavor of real Vermont syrup still evokes a feeling of fall. My Maple Sugar Blondies are made up of the warm fall flavors including walnuts and the caramel flavor of a blondie. I use Butternut Mountain Farm's real Vermont Maple Sugar AND pure Vermont Maple Syrup in this recipe too. If you can't find it in your local store you can order it online on their website- Butternut Mountain Farm
We visited Butternut Mountain Farm in Johnson, Vermont and I assure it is some of the purest finest maple syrup you will buy.
Enjoy!


Maple Sugar Walnut Blondies

• 1/2 cup of butter 
• 1 1/2 cup pure maple sugar
• 1/2 cup of grade A dark robust pure maple syrup
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Melt butter. Add eggs, maple sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, baking soda, salt and nuts.
Stir by hand, Then mix in flour. Pour into 9x13 inch greased cake pan. sprinkle white
chocolate chips on top. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown and pulling
away from the pan on the sides. Cut and serve. I like to sprinkle a little bit of maple sugar over top and drizzle with a little bit of pure Vermont maple syrup right before serving.

Sweet Tip: Only mix by hand and be sure stir only to incorporate the ingredients and no more for best texture and results.

maple syrup and maple sugar provided by Butternut Mountain Farm

Delicious Harvest Apple Pie * Bringing Vermont Home

Our destination for FALL this year is Vermont. Vermont is one of my very most favorite places on earth. Fall in Vermont means stunning colorful autumn leaves of the sugar maples, the smell of sweet wood burning in the fire places, harvest dances at the local town halls, harvest full moon walks, plaid flannel, men letting their beards grow out in anticipation of hard cold winters, crisp fresh apples, apple cider, apple cider doughnuts, and a delicious harvest apple pie. When I lived in Vermont it felt like I was living in a movie. Everything you do in the small towns of Vermont is special unlike any where else in the world. Schedule a trip to Vermont and spend at least a week exploring the winding Green Mountain roads, little villages (yes they are called villages in Vermont), visit the local general/grocery stores, take a hike or swim in one of the many swimming holes of the fresh rivers. If you are there in the fall don't miss having a sip of fresh apple cider and an apple cider doughnut. Yes, it really does look like the beginning of Newhart even now in 2015 thirty years later and it's just as enchanting as the song Henry Mancini wrote for the show. Go a head and listen. You will imagine yourself driving from small town to small town peeping at the rainbow of colors that cover the mountains this time of year.

I love this recipe for apple pie because it's a mix of both a pie crust and the taste of an apple crisp blended together in this delicious pie.  I use locally grown apples which always taste best and are freshest. I was blessed this year to have a wonderful heirloom apple tree that is a remnant of the apple orchards that use to cover the small town of Orem, Utah.

Did you know? Many of the variety of apples where lost during prohibition because they didn't want people to make hard apple cider so the trees where cut down. So sad but if you are lucky and in Vermont and find a wild apple tree along the side of the road go and forage for some of these tasty old varieties that have long since disappeared from all most everywhere. You never know it could be along one of the roads (Hazens Notch Road) President George Washington sent the troops up to Vermont to build during the revolutionary war.

Harvest Apple Pie Recipe
makes one pie

Pie filling:

• 12 fresh apples
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
• pinch of sea salt

Peel and slice apples in about 1/2 inch slices. In a large mixing bowl add sugar and spices and mix. Toss apples in sugar spice mix. Set aside.

One Pie Crust Recipe

Pie Crumble Topping:

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup of fresh cream butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

With a fork or your hands blend together ingredients until the mixture forms small pebbles. Set aside.

Add pie crust to 9 inch pie pan. Be sure to prick small holes in the bottom of the unbaked pie crust with fork. Add apple filling to the pan. Top with pie crumble topping. 

For the star fall decorative topping I tool a small cookie/pastry cutter added stars around the edge of the pie crust then made the star fall pattern starting at one side over lapping the stars then slowly spacing them further and further apart to get the star fall effect. This would also be pretty with a tiny maple left cookie/pastry cutter to make a wind blown leaf decoration.

Place pie pan on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. The pie will be bubbling hot so use caution when taking out of oven.

Sweet Tip: Let pie set up for a least 20 minutes before serving.