Bourbon Pecan Pie

This pecan pie is crunchy on top, melty in the middle—mostly because of the maple syrup—and boozy with bourbon. I tweaked my Dad's recipe, which has always been a Picard family favourite. For the ultimate dessert experience, serve this pie with a spoonful of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Enjoy!

To make your own pie dough, see here.

Ingredients

• 1 pie dough in a 9" pan, pre-cooked for 10 minutes. • 1 cup maple syrup • 1 cup brown sugar • 1 shot bourbon • 3 eggs • 1 teaspoon vanilla • 1 1/2 cups pecans

Pre-heat oven to 350°F. In a bowl, mix all ingredients but the pecans. Add 1 cup of pecans, lightly crushed. Pour over the pre-cooked pie dough and top with the remaining pecans. Bake for about 45 minutes, until the center is no longer wobbly.

Wild Apple Crisp with Maple Cream

This is my kind of dessert--simple and satisfying.Wild apples are everywhere. From my window I can see at least half a dozen trees. Some people don't really fancy them, but I think they're pretty good. We've been tasting apples from various trees and picking the best ones. Each tree is different, so before judging the apples by their size or color, give them a try.

Enjoy!

Serves 6

Apple Crisp

• 4 medium apples, sliced • 1 cup rolled oats • 1 cup packed brown sugar • 1/2 cup unbleached white flour • 1/2 cup butter • 1/2 cup maple syrup • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. In a bowl, combine oats, sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Add the butter in small chunks and roughly mix. Throw the apple slices (no need to be fancy) in a 8x8 baking dish, pour the maple syrup over and top with the oat mixture. Bake for 45 minutes.

Maple Whipped Cream

• 1 cup heavy cream • 1 tablespoon sugar • 3 tablespoons maple syrup • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In a bowl, whisk together the sugar, cream, and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Add the maple syrup a fold in with a spatula. Let sit in the fridge at least 15 minutes before serving (you want it cold).

Blackberry Oatmeal Cake

Blackberries; one of the best known wild foods and the tastiest of all berries, in my opinion. These were picked in the yard this morning, and it seems we'll have a steady supply of them for a few weeks. The most common pairing of blackberries is with apples, but I've decided to keep it straight and make a Blackberry Oatmeal Cake, adapting an earlier recipe for Blueberry Banana Bread to serve the purpose. This Blackberry Oatmeal Cake is great for breakfast with coffee or as a dessert with maple syrup and/or a drizzle of cream (both highly recommended!). Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 cups blackberries • 2 cups whole white flour • 1 cup quick oats • 1 cup sugar • 1/2 cup neutral oil • 1/2 cup yogurt • 1/2 cup milk • 2 large eggs • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract • 1 teaspoon baking soda • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, mix the oatmeal, flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until smooth. Add the yogurt, oil, milk and vanilla. Mix well. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk until well combined. Gently spoon in the blackberries. Pour batter into a buttered 8-9" round pan, top with oatmeal and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until set.

Maple, Apple, and Pecan Turnovers

It's maple syrup season. Time to enjoy some local sweetness. Time to get sappy by surprising your loved ones with turnovers for dessert--or breakfast. It's also time to make more of your own pastry. Practice makes better! I usually make my dough/pastry a day in advance, refrigerate it, and then take it out an hour before using. Also, prepare your sauce while the turnovers are in the oven. You'll have just enough time. Enjoy! Yields 8 turnovers

Puff Pastry

• 250g white flour • 250g unsalted butter • ~100ml cold water • 2 tablespoons sugar • pinch of salt

In a large bowl, mix the flour with the salt and rub in the butter with your hands. Not too much, though--you still want clumps of butter. Add the water and work until you have a smooth dough. Add more water if it’s too stiff. Chill for 30 minutes.

Flour your work surface. Now the trick is to have nice layers of pastry. To do that you just have to roll the dough into a rectangle, about half an inch thick. Fold the left end towards the middle, and then fold the right end on top of it. Rotate the dough a quarter turn, roll again and repeat the folding. Do that 4-5 times. Then chill the dough for another 30 minutes or more.

Filling

• 4 medium apples, sliced • 2 tablespoons butter • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon • 1/2 cup maple syrup

Melt the butter in a pan and cook the apples with the cinnamon on medium heat for 7-8 minutes. Add the maple syrup and simmer for another 2 minutes. Set aside and leave to cool.

Putting it together

• You'll need 1 egg

Pre-heat the oven to 400F. Roll out your dough to a 1/4" thick rectangle and then cut into 8 equal squares. Roll each to about 4" diameter square. Fill each with a heaped tablespoon of the filling. Bring the dough back over and seal with your fingers. Brush the top with the beaten egg and cut up holes on top. Put the turnovers on a pan and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until crispy. Make sure to keep the juice that's left from the apples.

Maple-Pecan Caramel

• 1 cup pecans • 1 cup maple syrup • leftover juice from the apples • 2 tablespoons heavy cream

You can choose to chop the pecans a bit if you like. Toast them in a pan for a couple of minutes then add the maple syrup and juice. Simmer for 10 minutes. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes before serving.

Open-Faced Egg and Cheese with Maple Mustard

This is the perfect combination; you have sharp cheddar, salty eggs, sweet maple syrup, spicy mustard and crispy toast. You'll wish you could have this for breakfast every morning for the rest of your life. Well maybe not, but I do. I almost ate two of them this morning but was reminded that four eggs a day might be too much. I guess you could add slices of bacon if you're a fan, but my advice is to save your bucks because it's already damn good as it is.

For each serving, you'll need:

• 2 eggs • 1 slice of bread • slices of old cheddar • salt+ black pepper

Toast your bread. In a pan, cook your eggs over easy. Add salt and pepper. When you flip them, add the cheese on top so it melts. Put enough of it so the eggs are covered. Don't overcook, the yolks must be runny. Put the eggs on top of the toast and pour the maple mustard on it and around.

Maple Mustard

This is enough for two open-faced "egg n' cheese". If serving four, double the recipe.

• 1/2 cup maple syrup • 1 tablespoon dijon mustard • 1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard

In a small saucepan heat the maple syrup until it bubbles. Remove from heat and whisk in the mustards.

Ployes and Maple Syrup Baked Beans

Ployes are buckwheat flour pancakes that you do not flip; they cook on one side only. No one really knows, as with a lot of traditional foods, exactly what or who occasioned the first ploye, but the Brayons (people living in northwest of New-Brunswick) have been eating them for years and years - most often with brown sugar and cretons, a pork spread with onions and spices. The possibilities for ploye are endless, however; you can butter them and pour syrup on top; you can roll them up with eggs; or you can serve them instead of bread at a corn boil.

To my tastes, the best accompaniment for ployes are baked beans, cooked all day long in molasses and maple syrup. So here I have my family's baked beans recipe and the recipe for ployes that's on La Brayonne Buckwheat Flour package. Enjoy!

You can order some good buckwheat flour here.

Note: The beans need to be soaked overnight prior to cooking.

Ployes 2 cups buckwheat flour 1 cup white flour 2 cups cold water 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups hot water 2 teaspoons baking powder

Mix the flours together. Whisk the cold water in. Add the salt then the hot water. Mix well, you don't want any clumps. Add the baking powder.

In a hot pan, on medium-high heat, pour the mixture to the desired size, as you would a pancake. Once the top is dry, it's ready. It takes about 2 minutes.

Maple Syrup Baked Beans

1 bag (900g, 2lb) of haricot (white pea) beans 3 chopped onions 1 cup ketchup 1/2 cup maple syrup 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup molasses 1/4 cup chili sauce 2 tablespoons mustard 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Soak the beans in cold water overnight. Mix all the other ingredients together. Drain the beans and add with the sauce. Put everything in a big pot or slow cooker, then add enough water to cover the beans. Cook 6 to 8 hours at 275°F covered or in slow cooker on low or medium for 6-8 hours, depending if you like them firm or soft. Once cooked, add salt to taste.

Backwoods Pie

Back in the Maritimes there's a dessert called Backwoods Pie. It's a cross between the traditional Canadian dessert, sugar pie, and a standard maple syrup pie.  I found a recipe for  Backwoods Pie in the cookbook Out of Nova Scotia Kitchens.  I tested it and then tweaked the ingredients.  This pie is very sweet, obviously, but if you have some spare quality maple syrup,  it's a good way to use it and a good way to make people happy too.

Dough

• 1 cup flour • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter • 1 tablespoon sugar • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Rub the flour with the butter until you get a sandy texture. Then add just enough cold water to make a smooth dough, about 2 - 3 tablespoons. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough and line a 9" pie pan.

Filling

• 1 cup brown sugar • 1 cup maple syrup • 1/2 cup heavy cream • 1/4 cup flour • 2 eggs • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together except the flour. Sift in the flour a little at a time. Pour the mixture into the pie crust. Cook for at least 45 minutes. You want it dry but it must still tremble in the middle. Leave to cool on a rack.

Serve it with a loose whipped cream.