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If there is one thing that the people in my family love even more than fish and chips, it has to be Maple Syrup. We are all crazy about the flavor of Maple. My son even taps his own Maple trees and is really proud of the gallon or so of syrup he gets from them every year.
When we were children we loved to go and visit my father's mother in Northern Quebec. This was real Maple Country and we got to enjoy real Maple treats, such as Maple Candy and fudge.
We also used to get these little cone things, that were like small stale ice cream cones but they were filled with a really thick maple syrup and topped with maple fudge icing.
We did not care that the cones always tasted stale. We just loved the maple.
I wanted to bake a treat for my father and so I decided to bake him this buttery chewy maple walnut cookies recipe from out of my Big Blue Binder. I knew they would go down a real treat with him.
If there is anything that he loves even more than maple, it is when maple is combined with walnuts. It is his favorite flavor of ice cream (mine too!) He love LOVES maple walnut anything.
The Big Blue Binder is a blue vinyl recipe folder which has travelled all around the world with me since I was a very young woman. It is filled with recipes that I have gleaned through the years from family and friends, magazines, books etc.
In the days before the computer, these recipes were laboriously written down by hand. They are my tried and trues and the best of the bests. You know that if someone cares to share a recipe with you, it is probably one of their best.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO MAKE BUTTERY WALNUT COOKIES
You don't need anything extraordinary to make and bake these cookies. There is nothing fancy or off the wall required, unless you consider Maple syrup to be an unusual ingredient!
You just need the usual cast of characters, butter, egg, brown sugar, flavorings, flour, soda, baking powder, flour, salt and walnuts.
At the risk of repeating myself and for those who are just discovering me, I want to say. Always toast your nuts before baking with them. Toasting your nuts always makes them taste nuttier.
It doesn't take much of an effort and you will note a real difference. About 8 to 10 minutes on a baking sheet in a moderate oven usually does the trick sufficiently. You will know they are done because you will smell their nutty fragrance permeating the air!
Of course you will need to let them cool down before using them to bake with. That's why I always do mine a large bag at a time and then store them in an airtight container in the freezer, ready to scoop out and use for anything I might be baking/cooking.
I do this with all my nuts. They taste better. It saves time. They keep longer and never go rancid.
HOW DO YOU MAKE BUTTERY MAPLE WALNUT COOKIES
You start by beating together brown sugar and room temperature butter until it is light and fluffy. Once that has been achieved you can beat in the egg and flavorings. The mixture may look split or curdled, but don't worry, it will come back together as soon as you add the flour.
I always sift my flour, baking powder and soda together with the salt. This ensures even distribution of the soda and baking powder, so you don't end up with it in only one area of the dough. There is nothing worse than biting into a baked good that tastes overwhelmingly of baking powder or baking soda.
Next you need to stir the flour into the creamed mixture. This is done alternately with the maple syrup, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. The batter will be nice and light and fluffy.
Finally you stir in the toasted nuts. Of course you can use more if you wish. I sometimes do. 1/2 cup is only a suggestion. You can also add things like raisins or chocolate chips if you really want to go whole hog.
Today I contemplated adding chopped cooked bacon, but then didn't because they are for my dad and he likes things simple. But think bacon, wow!
Anyways, once everything is combined it is as simple as scooping the dough by double tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets and baking. I do top with a few extra walnuts. Make sure you leave at least 2 inches in between each cooking for spreading.
I also use my cookie scoop for scooping them out.
You can of course also make a delicious drizzle icing to flick over the top of these if you want. Just begin by sifting a cup of icing sugar into a bowl.
Whisk in a few drops of maple flavoring and enough milk to give you a thin drizzle icing. Spoon or flick it over your cookies and then let them sit until the drizzle is set. Delicious!
You can leave the maple flavoring out if you want or cannot get any, but you can taste the maple more when you use it.
Sweet and Spicy Chicken
When I first moved over to the UK in the year 2000 I brought a big 4 litre can of Maple syrup with me on the aircraft. You could do that in those days. There was no way I was going to live without my Maple syrup!
Canadians love LOVE their Maple syrup. It had become quite easy to find in the UK by the time I left to come back to Canada 20 years later. I was always really happy about that!
I have a fair amount of recipes on here that use Maple syrup in them if you are interested. Not all are desserts. Let me share just a few with you:
As you can see Maple lends itself to all sorts of applications, both savory and sweet.
gttttttttttttttttXzzz2 (kitten speak)
My kittens have found their way to the top of the table. Oh my. I left the room for a minute and came back to find them prancing across my computer. Thank goodness they didn't erase anything.
Now they are sleeping like angels. Go figure! Never a dull moment!
Buttery Maple Walnut Cookies
Yield: 24 cookies
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 12 MinTotal time: 22 Min
These tender and delicious cookies are an old family favorite from my Big Blue Binder, adapted to show British measurements.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (172 g) butter
- 1/2 cup (100g) soft light brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 tsp pure vanilla
- 1/2 tsp maple flavoring
- 2 1/4 cups (315g) plain all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup (120ml) pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup (45g)chopped toasted walnuts
- some extra chopped walnuts to top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C. gas mark 6. Have ready several large baking sheets. No need to butter.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until well combined and light. Beat in the egg, maple flavoring and vanilla.
- Sift the flour, salt, soda and baking powder together. Add this mixture to the creamed mixture, alternately with the maple syrup. Blend together well and stir in the chopped toasted walnuts.
- Drop by 2 TBS (I use my cookie scoop) onto the baking sheets, leaving 2 inches in between each. Top each cookie with a few extra chopped walnuts.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown around the edges and on the bottoms. Cookies will be set. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before scooping off to wire racks to cool completely.
- Cookies will keep in an airtight container for 4 to 5 days.
All nutritional data is calculated by the recipe card program and may not be entirely accurate.
I grew up with a mother who could make a delicious soup out of anything. Every time we had a roast dinner of any kind, we knew there would be a pot of soup to follow.
The bones from our Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey's got made into turkey vegetable soup. Likewise the the bones from a Sunday Roast Chicken or even Roast Beef .
The bone from our Easter Ham always got used to make a delicious French Pea Soup. We loved all of these soups.
She made huge pots of these soups, many of them requiring simmering all day. There would be enough for us to enjoy on the day and then she would freeze the rest to take out and heat up at other times when she was looking for a quick and easy supper for us to enjoy.
Whenever we were poorly she would heat us up bowls of homemade chicken or turkey soup. Back in the Winter of 1999 when my second marriage broke I came down with an awful case of the flu.
Mom had not spoken to me in months (dirty divorce), but when she heard that I was ill, she showed up on my doorstep with a container of her homemade soup. This not only helped me out with my flu but was the catalyst in other wounds being healed.
Whenever any of us children went home to visit, we could always count on mom serving us a pot of her homemade soup on at least one of the nights we were there. It became a right of passage and it was surely something we all really looked forward to.
I confess I also make a really great pot of soup, but that is largely down to the lessons taught to me by my much beloved mother.
Making a good pot of soup can often be very time consuming, especially if you have to make the stock from scratch. Admittedly we don't always have the time to devote to this art or practice.
This recipe I am sharing with you today is a delicious substitute to use during those times when we have neither the time nor the inclination to make a soup from scratch.
Barring my mother's homemade soup, this is the best simple chicken soup recipe. It uses very few ingredients and it goes together in a flash.
Plus its incredibly easy to make and very delicious!
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS SIMPLE SOUP RECIPE
Nothing out of the ordinary is required to make this delicious soup. Just a few simple ingredients.
- some good chicken stock (I like to use Knorr Homestyle stock bouillon packets)
- carrots, onions and celery
- noodles or pasta
- a quantity of shredded or cubed cooked chicken breast
- a knob of butter, some seasoning and a few herbs
As you can see very simple ingredients put together in a very simple way.
HOW DO YOU MAKE THIS SIMPLE SOUP RECIPE
There is nothing complicated here. You begin simply by melting the butter in a saucepan and sautéing the vegetables just until they begin to soften.
Once you have softened the vegetables you add the stock, herbs and seasonings to the pan, bring them to the boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes. This helps to meld all of the flavors together.
Next you add the noodles or pasta and cook for a further 10 minutes to soften the pasta. just to al dente, and finally you add the cubed or shredded chicken and just heat through, until everything is nice and hot and ready to spoon out into bowls.
This really is very simple to make and I admit it is probably one of the most delicious chicken noodle soups out there.
Why settle for something that comes in a can and is substandard in taste and texture when you can have a really tasty bowl of soup with very little extra effort!
Egg noodles are of course what I normally use in this delicious soup, but I did not have any today. Bow ties work just as well and are also quite attractive.
You could add other vegetables if you really wanted to, but I like to keep things pretty simple and love the purity of this version. I do sometimes add a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of dill weed. But that is only occasionally.
I have also sized this recipe today to make only 2 - 3 servings. You can of course double it to feed more quite successfully.
I enjoyed this today with a crusty sour dough roll and some butter, but I have also enjoyed it in the past with crackers or with grilled cheese sandwiches. It all depends on how hungry you are. The grilled cheese sandwich makes it eat like a main meal.
I hope you will be inspired to want to try this quick and easy chicken noodle soup recipe the next time you are pressed for time or feeling uninspired. If you keep some shredded or cubed cooked chicken breast in your freezer and a chicken good stock in the cupboard, you can rest assured that this tasty meal can be yours any time, any how. Enjoy!
Quick and Easy Chicken Noodle Soup
Yield: 2 - 3
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 35 Min
This is a small batch recipe, designed to serve 2 to 3 people. Low in fat, it is quick and easy to make and oh-so-delicious! You can also make this tasty soup ahead of time, simply reheating when you want to eat. You may need to add a bit more chicken stock in that case.
Ingredients
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 small onion, peeled and chopped (about 1/2 cup)
- 1 small stick of celery, trimmed and chopped (about 1/2 cup)
- 1/2 medium carrot, peeled and sliced
- pinch of salt
- black pepper to taste
- 2 cups (480ml) chicken stock
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 3/4 cup (85g) dry pasta or noodles
- 1/2 cup shredded or cubed cooked chicken breast meat
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the vegetables. Cook over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken stock, herbs and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the noodles/pasta. Simmer for a further 10 minutes or so, until the pasta has softened to al dente, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the chicken and heat through. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Serve hot.
Notes:
Soup can be made up to three days ahead of time. Cool, uncovered, then chill in a tightly covered container. The noodles will absorb broth and it will thicken upon standing. When ready to reheat, thin the soup as needed with additional broth.
All nutritional data is calculated by the recipe card program and may not be entirely accurate.
I felt a bit blue a few days ago. Its not easy to go from living with a whole house filled with people, down to two people and then down to just one. Especially under the circumstances.
I decided I needed a bit of cheering up! One thing which I really enjoyed when I was living in the UK was the traditional Afternoon Tea. I decided that if I needed cheering up, I needed a traditional Afternoon Tea!
Just because you live on your own, it doesn't mean that you can't enjoy some of the finer things in life which other people get to enjoy, right? Right!
I resolved this year to get as much joy out of life that I can for whatever time I have left. Alone or not. Covid or not. I can make each day an adventure with just a tiny bit of effort!
Most people confuse the term Afternoon Tea with High Tea. They are not the same thing, nor are the terms interchangeable.
Afternoon Tea is very much the British tradition of sitting down mid or late afternoon to a treat of tea, finger sandwiches, scones and cake. It was very much an upper class thing and was not intended to replace dinner.
The Upper Classes usually ate their dinners much later in the evening, so as an attempt to fill the gap in between lunch and dinner they indulged in afternoon tea.
High tea came about largely to appease the working class in the 19th century. Working class people had no time, nor the luxury to stop working for such a treat as afternoon tea. Often they would arrive home starving at the end of the day.
At that time tea was served with heartier dishes. Dishes meant to sustain a people who had been working their pegs off all day. Something hearty, perhaps a tidbit of sweet, washed down with hot cups of tea. Supper is still called "Tea" in working class Britain.
Unless you are on Scotland of course where a Afternoon Tea will take on some sort of hot and savory foods. A mix of High and Afternoon Teas.
One thing you will want to serve with your Afternoon Tea is something savory. Nothing hot, but a mix of finger sandwiches and other cold savories are fine.
Today I made a mix of my favourites. Cucumber with mayonnaise on white bread rounds. Cheddar Cheese and Branstons Pickle on whole wheat squares. Both were bite sized. You don't want huge sandwiches. Only tiny bites.
One thing with sandwiches is you must always spread any filling right to the edges. Nobody wants to be eating a dry piece of bread without any filling. Bite sized is right for a tea. Something which can be consumed in only one or two bites.
Dainty fare. I have wonderful memories of my mother making sandwiches for tea parties when I was growing up. Crusts always removed. She would give us the crusts to eat. We loved them
Everything was always dainty and genteel.
I also took the liberty of boiling an egg so that I could make myself a deviled egg. This time I cut the egg in half crosswise instead of lengthwise. That created tiny little cups. With a tiny sliver cut off the end of the rounded end so that they stood perfectly upright.
Rule of thumb when making deviled eggs. One don't overcook or undercook your eggs. I use an electric egg boiler. Two use 1/2 TBS of mayonnaise and 1/2 tsp grainy Dijon mustard for each egg yolk used. Mash together until fairly smooth and stuff your eggs.
A sprinkle of paprika and everything looks so pretty.
Some other sandwich ideas would be, deviled ham, egg with cress, tomato and cheese, tuna salad, etc. Just make sure your bread is fresh, buttered to the edge and the crusts are cut off.
Of course Afternoon Tea requires that there be some scones present. I made a small batch of my classic English Scones.
These are the scones you will see at every tea room across the UK. They are beautifully buttery and crumbly. Perfect in short.
As you can see my recipe rises nice and tall and is studded with sticky raisins. You can leave them out if you wish, but raisins are quite traditional.
I remember thinking it was rather odd to be having raisins in your scones when you were going to be having cream and jam with them, but it totally works. Trust me on this.
These are meant to be served at room temperature, split and then spread with butter. You will want to have some whipped heavy cream to serve with them along with some jam.
In the UK traditionally they would serve clotted cream with these along with the jam. Clotted cream is such a gorgeous thing. Heavy cream which has been heated just to the point where it forms thick sweet clots, with a buttery crust on top.
It is almost impossible to replicate anywhere else in the world. Trust me on this. Once you have had the real thing, nothing else comes close. Today I made do with just whipped cream, and some cherry jam.
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Classic English Scones (small batch)
Yield: makes 5 scones
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 10 MinTotal time: 20 Min
These are buttery and flakey tender with just the right amount of sticky sultanas. Serve with cream and jam for a real treat!
Ingredients
- 175g self raising flour ( 1 1/4 cups)
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 37g of cold butter (2 3/4 TBS)
- 15g Caster sugar (1 1/4 TBS, superfine sugar)
- 40g sultana raisins (1/4 cup)
- approximately 75ml milk (scant 1/3 cup)
- 1 large free range eggs, beaten
- granulated sugar to sprinkle plus flour for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Butter a large baking tray. Alternately line it with greaseproof paper.
- Measure the flour into a bowl along with the baking powder. (Pour the flour in from on high to aerate it.) Whisk together. Drop in the cold butter in bits. Using your fingertips rub the butter in quickly until the mixture resembles fine dry bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar and raisins.
- Beat the egg. Remove and set 1 TBS aside. Add 60ml (scant 1/4 cup) of the milk to the eggs and beat together. Add this to the flour mixture. Mix together with the rounded end of a butter knife to form a soft but slightly tacky dough. Only add the remainder of the milk if your dough is too dry and you want to absorb any dry bits in the bowl. The dough should NOT be too wet, but not too dry either.
- Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently a couple of times to bring well together. Gently pat out to 1 inch thick. Using a sharp round 3 inch cutter, cut out rounds, using a direct up and down motion.
- Do not twist the cutter. Place the cut out scones an inch or so apart on the baking sheet. Gather any trimmings together and repeat until you have 5 scones.
- Brush the tops of the scones with the reserved beaten egg and sprinkle with a bit of granulated sugar. Don't let the egg drip down the sides.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, until risen and golden on top and bottoms. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container. Best eaten on the day. Any leftovers can be frozen for several months.
Of course the center attraction of any Afternoon Tea, aside from the scones, is the cake. There is always a cake to be enjoyed. Usually a Victoria Sponge. But any cake will do.
Any cake that can be enjoyed with hot cups of tea. Today I small-batched my Traditional Victoria Sponge Cake to make a cake that is only 4 inches in diameter, which is perfect for just one person. Yes, there will be leftovers. Ask me if I care. 😋
This was the perfect size for me. It cuts into exactly four slices. One for me to enjoy today with my tea party and three more for another time.
They are not overly large slices, but after you have eaten several finger sandwiches and a scone, you don't really need an overly large slice of cake.
Classic Victoria Sponge Cake (small batch)
Yield: 2
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 30 Min
Popular during the reign of Queen Victoria, this cake remains popular to this day, which is a huge testament to it's taste and ease of baking! This is a smaller sized version of the original. You will need two four inch baking tins.
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 85g butter (6 TBS)
- 85g caster sugar (scant 1/2 cup)
- few drops vanilla extract
- 1 large free range egg plus 1 egg yolk, beaten
- 85g self raising flour (a scant 3/4 cup)
To finish:
- 2 TBS raspberry jam
- icing sugar or granulated sugar to dust the top
Instructions
- Butter and base line two 4-inch sandwich tins. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.
- Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together until light in color and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. If the mixture begins to curdle, add a spoonful of the flour.
- Fold in the flour with a metal spoon, taking care to use a cutting motion so as not to knock out too much of the air that you have beaten into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake tins, leveling off the surface. Make a slight dip in the center of each.
- Bake on a center rack of the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the sponges have risen well, are golden brown, and spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in the pan for five minutes before running a knife carefully around the edges and turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, place one layer on a cake plate. Spread with raspberry jam. Place the other cake on top, pressing down lightly. Dust with icing or granulated sugar.
HOW TO MAKE A PROPER CUP OF TEA
1. You will need a kettle to boil your water in and a good clay or ceramic tea pot. These have the best heat retention.
2. Warm your tea pot with some boiling water and discard. Never make tea in a cold tea pot. The flavor is much better when you warm the pot first.
3. For black tea, your water needs to be boiling in order to make a proper cup of tea. Don't be tempted to use hot water dispensers and the like. Only a proper kettle will do.
4. Measure your tea into the warm tea pot and add boiling water. How much depends on how many cups you are making.
5. Cover and leave to steep for four to five minutes for strong tea, or three minutes for a weaker infusion.
Have your tea cup ready along with any add-ins such as milk, cream, sugar, lemon wedges, etc. I like a china cup or a mug.
This was the perfect way for me to enjoy my afternoon and a wonderful distraction from all of the sorrows of the world, real and imagined.
I was able to sit and enjoy a nice hot cup of tea and a few treats that I normally wouldn't indulge in, all by myself. And it didn't matter that I was all alone with it. And why not After all, I am more than worth the effort. You are too.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
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