Changing Out Sugar for Maple Syrup?

Your Maple Syrup Maven can't figure out who's behind the Ochef.com site, but there's lots of cooking information here.

Let's start with a question many of us have thought about: Are sugar, brown sugar, honey and maple syrup interchangeable in recipes?

Ochef says (not surprisingly), "no".

"First of all, consider the difference in weight. A cup of granulated sugar weighs 8 ounces. A cup of brown sugar weighs only 6 [ounces]. But a cup of maple syrup weighs 11 ounces and a cup of honey weighs 12 [ounces]."

"In addition, honey and maple syrup add moisture to a recipe, which can upset the texture of what you’re making."

Here are some of their substitution suggestions (see the whole answer for more info):

"# To use maple syrup in place of sugar in cooking, use 3/4 cup for every 1 cup of sugar.
# To use maple syrup in place of a cup of sugar in baking, use 3/4 cup, but decrease the total amount of liquid in the recipe by about 3 tablespoons for each cup of syrup you use.
# To use sugar in place of a cup of maple syrup, use 1-1/4 cups of sugar plus 1/4 cup more liquid."

Maple Pecan Sticky Buns

This is the time of year those of us who have home-made maple syrup are looking for new things to try. It's getting close enough to the sugaring season that we're willing to use a jar on a new recipe.

Here's one for Maple Pecan Sticky Buns from Maple Syrup World:

Yields 12 sticky buns

For the sticky part:
10 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp maple syrup

For the buns:
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 400° F.

Cream the "sticky part" ingredients together; divide evenly into 12 muffin tin cups.

On a lightly floured surface, unfold the puff pastry, with folds going left to right. In a small bowl, combine butter and maple syrup. With a pastry brush, brush mixture onto puff pastry, leave a small 1/2 inch border all the way around. Evenly sprinkle on brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. From the bottom up, gently roll up the puff pastry. Slice into 12 small rolls.

Place one roll into each muffin cup, on top of the butter mixture. Bake for 30 minutes, until browned. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then invent sticky buns onto the parchment paper.

Allow to cool for an additional 10 minutes.