Chewy Maple Cookies
This recipe was invented by my partner, Dave. He was so delighted by the reduced maple syrup we had to create when making the maple crema that he wanted to use it as a cookie base as well. He threw in the rest of the ingredients by feel, figuring that the proportions should be something like Tollhouse cookie proportions.
The end result was an utterly mapley, chewy, almost candy-like batch of cookies. I find them deeply addictive, and hope to give some of them away soon to keep myself from eating them all. The only thing better than eating home-made treats is giving them away, after all.
In the end, it turned out that I like these more than Dave does. He usually has much greater tolerance for sweetness than I do, but somehow these are too sweet for him, but just right for me. I cannot explain this, but it is true.
These are basically maple candy in the guise of chewy cookies. Take from that what you will.
Chewy Maple Cookies
2 C maple syrup (ideally Grade B)
1 stick unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
2 C flour
1 egg
Preheat your oven to 350º.
Boil the maple syrup until it is reduced to a third of the amount (2/3 C). Use a larger pot than you think you need, because it will bubble up and over tremendously. Don’t let it turn to caramel. Use a thermometer to keep it under about 250º. When you turn it off, let it cool to below 212º.
Stir in the butter until it melts and combines. Check the temperature and make sure it is below 120º; you don’t want to cook the eggs. Mix in the other ingredients, flour last, until combined. Chill for at least an hour, or until thick enough to form into solid-ish balls.
Place chestnut-sized balls of dough several inches apart (these cookies spread!) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 10 minutes, or until pale gold. They’ll be very soft when they come out, but don’t be afraid. Just transfer them carefully to a cooling rack and let them solidify as they cool before eating them.
March 18th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Those look heavenly!
March 18th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
They sound fantastic. I wonder how they’d be with some chopped pecans mixed in…
March 18th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Looks utterly fantastic! ARGH! My feed reader still isn’t picking up your new posts :( I’m glad I can at least watch your flickr page for new images that indicate new posts :)
March 18th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
These sound outrageously delicious! Maple is one of my all-time favorite flavors.
March 18th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Danielle, the photo is beautiful and the cookies sound delicious.
Congrats, Dave! :)
March 19th, 2007 at 12:15 am
I love it that your pictures are always so big and invitingly droolsome. I think I mentioned it before, I suck in the cookies baking department…hopefully this is something I can work on this year. ;)
March 19th, 2007 at 4:53 am
yummmmm….delicious.looks very very scrumptious.
March 19th, 2007 at 11:59 am
WOW! I’m, literally, DROOLING right now…
March 19th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
I think that is my favorite photo of yours yet…and I favor a lot of your photos. Perfect shot!
March 21st, 2007 at 7:17 pm
This sounds great, we made something similar as a child except it was much quicker- boil syrup a few minutes, then add butter to melt, then stir in flour and pecans, drop on baking sheets and bake. Those spiral cookies look great too!
March 29th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Seriously, I’m coming over. Ahhhhh! I love chewy cookies!!! This sounds like something I could actually make too, that isn’t too “dough” intense!!!
March 30th, 2007 at 6:34 am
Make them, everyone! Dave would love to see his new invention travel the world.
RM - I post cookie recipes fairly often. ^^
Yvo - So, come on over!
March 31st, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Man, did I butcer these - is the reduce to 2/3 cup right? I ended up with a paste after the butter was added…. Oh well, will try again later.
April 17th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Hi,
I never wrote to thank you for your help with this recipe. I have been traveling for work, and had to wait a bit before I could try again. Being a bit ham-handed in the kitchen I managed to cook the egg in the syrup-butter mixture on the 2nd try… third time, as they say, was a charm. I appreciate your help, and can’t wait to try something new. Glad I found a bunch of recipes that push me outside my comfort zone. all the best,
-m
April 18th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Mowen - Thanks for letting me know how it finally turned out! I’m so glad you were able to get the recipe to work. I am always happy to be of help.
April 23rd, 2007 at 3:33 am
The cookie really seems chewy. I love your photo!!
September 3rd, 2007 at 9:11 pm
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