Baking with Maple Syrup and a Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Since I married into the Cooper-Ellis family (Catherine and I celebrated our 30th anniversary last May, and the birth of our first grandchild last month!) I’ve been one of those immensely fortunate people who has more than enough  maple syrup.  I have used this wealth in all the usual ways – Catherine’s Swedish Pancakes with fruit, yogurt and some warm Fancy are a particular favorite.  But I’ve long enjoyed cooking, and I’ve found that maple syrup is a wonderful sweetener in a wide variety of dishes.
Nowhere is this more true than in baking.  This is the season for baking (it’s awfully cold, gray and wet out there at present, and the family will be converging on Putney in another couple of weeks) so I thought I’d share some of what I’ve learned.
I’ll start with a simple classic:  pumpkin pie.  So, here’s my recipe for Maple Pumpkin Pie:
Ingredients:

• Unbaked pie crust
• 1 1/2 cup (1 can) pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dark maple syrup (Hidden Springs Maple’s “Premium Grade B” is ideal!)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup light cream (or evaporated milk)

Directions:

1. Mix pumpkin, brown sugar, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon and ginger.  Blend in cream and beaten eggs.  Pour into pie shell.
2. Bake at 425 F for 40 minutes, or until knife blade inserted in the center comes out clean.

Note:  In this recipe maple syrup is substituting for half of what would otherwise be a full cup of brown sugar; this will add a few minutes to the time it takes for the pie to “set”.  Due to the relatively long baking time (and hot oven) I strongly recommend that a “pie ring” (or tinfoil substitute) be placed over the rim of the crust for at least the first 30 minutes.  Otherwise, the crust may brown more than you want before the filling is properly set.