March in Ontario means maple syrup is abound, particularly right here in Elmira as the annual Elmira Maple Syrup Festival ramps up for another fun-filled year.
The festival takes place this weekend, on Saturday, March 31, 2012, but all month long we’ve been cooking up a maple storm at Never Enough Thyme. It’s one of our favourite seasonal ingredients because there’s so much you can do with it – sweet and savoury – and it helps that it’s local.
From sweet maple cheesecake to savoury butternut squash and maple soup, you’d be amazed at the possibilities with this sticky sweet syrup.
In this recipe for Elmira maple syrup pecan streusel bread pudding, we’ve taken a classic dish and added our own, local twist.
Bread pudding is a popular dessert in the U.K. and traditionally is made up of leftover bread that’s starting to go stale, egg, sugar, syrup and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. But these are just the basics and you can amp up the recipe with your own additions like dried fruit or nuts.
Making bread pudding with maple syrup is common in Canada where this ingredient is more readily available; but we’ve also added some other local ingredients and a different topping in our version. Enjoy!
Elmira Maple Syrup Pecan Streusel Bread Pudding
5 large eggs
2 cups 10% cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 pkg. of cinnamon bread
1 Granny Smith apple, sliced
Topping
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup butter
Combine all topping ingredients until crumbled, set aside.
Spray a spring form pan and line with parchment paper. Slice cinnamon bread and layer in the pan. Whisk eggs and sugar together, add the cream and maple syrup and whisk until combined. Pour the custard mix over the bread, allow to stand for half an hour. Top with apples and pecan streusel.
Bake in oven at 350˚F until puffy and golden. Let stand for about 10 minutes, but serve warm topped with local maple syrup.
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