It's guest blog day!! I'm excited that my loving littlest sis decided to take me up on guest blogging. She is a GREAT cook and loves to experiment with new recipes--you can see one of her recent creations here which looks totally awesome. Anyway, Cat just moved to Prague and is working in a hostel there. I think she's loving her new surroundings and figuring out what life will look like for her! So, here you go...
When I moved to Central Europe, I thought to myself that there would be little to nothing that I couldn't find here to meet my culinary whims - I mean, seriously, Europe is known for it's food...French bakeries, Italian coffee, German sausages... And, admittedly, given enough money and time, one probably could lay their hands on just about anything. But, as it turns out, there are quite a few things that don't seem to be occupying any space on the local grocer's shelves - like peanut butter, vanilla flavoring, maple syrup, ranch dressing...the list goes on. Well, without loving gift boxes from friends in the States, these items are going to have to find their way off my menu for the moment. No big deal. But one item that IS an easy fix is the pancake syrup.
Okay, so without some help from the postal service, you may not be able to get maple syrup specifically, but would you settle for a darn good blueberry syrup?
Okay, so without some help from the postal service, you may not be able to get maple syrup specifically, but would you settle for a darn good blueberry syrup?
Mom's Blueberry Pancake Syrup
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional!)
1/4 cup blueberry preserves/jam/jelly
Mix sugar and water together in a sauce pan. Bring to a rolling boil and keep the heat on until it turns clear (about 2 minutes at a rolling boil). Remove from heat. Add vanilla and blueberry preserves. Best served warm.
When our mom ran the guest house in Jos, Nigeria, she'd serve up a variation of this syrup at breakfast. Always a bit hit. Now, at the hostel I work at, we put it out with pancakes for guests and they can't seem to get enough of it. Post your own ideas for variations and modifications in the comments - the possibilities are endless!
When our mom ran the guest house in Jos, Nigeria, she'd serve up a variation of this syrup at breakfast. Always a bit hit. Now, at the hostel I work at, we put it out with pancakes for guests and they can't seem to get enough of it. Post your own ideas for variations and modifications in the comments - the possibilities are endless!
Variation inspiration to get you started:
- just add 1/2 tsp maple flavoring, if you have it, to the sugar and water for "Mom's Maple Syrup"
- experiment with different fruits and jams!
- why not add some spices? Cinnamon would be good! Don't hold back on the allspice!
Just this morning I was wondering if you would be posting a syrup recipe at some point when I was making maple syrup. That's just what we did was add 1/2 tsp maple flavoring to the sugar and water. Seems a lot easier than having people send a big bottle of syrup! This week I also just heated some strawberry jam for the girls to be a little healthier! We'll have to try the blueberry syrup, I know it would be a hit in our house!
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of strawberry syrup, Sara, so I might try this with strawberry. Also, I've recently had my eye on some berry jams at Ikea--a red and a blue one that would probably work great for this! Cat mentioned a cinnamon cream syrup when she asked me about guest blogging...what do you do for that one, Cat?? Brian is not a big fan of homemade maple syrup or berry syrups so I have to buy the imported one, but maybe the rest of us can use something else and make his stretch a bit!
ReplyDeleteYou guys are stealing all my secrets... Actually, can't take any credit at all for this one either... our Mom is the cooking wonder I'm sharing this recipe from. Here's her recipe for Cinnamon Cream Syrup:
ReplyDelete1 c sugar
½ - ¾ tsp cinnamon
½ c light corn syrup*
¼ c water
Combine in saucepan. Boil over medium heat 2 minutes, stirring. Cool 5 minutes.
Stir in ½ c evaporated milk.
Serve warm.
*Adaptations: for light syrup, combine 1 c sugar, 2 tbs cornstarch, 1 c water. Bring to boil, stirring frequently until thick. This makes about 2 c of light syrup. Store in a glass jar.
*If you use condensed milk instead of evaporated milk, would need to delete or decrease the 1 c sugar at the top of the recipe. It would probably make too thick of a syrup and would need to add water till the consistency is good. If you don’t have evaporated milk, could use whole milk or half milk and half condensed milk – might be a better consistency.
Somehow, my mom didn't start making all these until I'd left home. I don't think I ever remember anything but homemade maple.
ReplyDeleteYeah - she really expanded her culinary offerings once she was meal planning at the Baptist Center...
ReplyDeleteI'm really excited about this, thanks. BTW, I tried the bbq pork recipe and it was a big hit! Even our non-meater eaters ate it. I don't have a crockpot, so I did it on the stove and just added more water.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so I made the cinnamon syrup this morning for our pancakes. I really liked it, but very different than what I expected in my mind. I expected it to be CREAMY, which it wasn't, but you could taste the creaminess even though it wasn't coffee-with-milk looking in color. I think I might would like it better on a waffle than a pancake.
ReplyDeleteI started by putting 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 Tbs cornstarch, and 1/4 cup water in a saucepan to make some corn syrup. It made about 1/4 cup of syrup which is what I had hoped it would make. I then used that to make a half recipe of the syrup since I just wanted enough to try it. It made enough for about 2-3 adult servings probably. My only recommendation is that you boil your syrup a little longer than 2 minutes to get it pretty thick before adding the evap milk since that thins it!
From syrup mom: yes, let the syrup become pretty thick before adding the evaporated milk. Should have the appearance of thickened milk with flecks of cinnamon. Recipe actually came from a Tanzania BM cookbook of old.
ReplyDeleteSo I just stumbled on this recipe today. Haven't tried it yet, but it sounds really good...It was suggested to go with French Toast...since my crew isn't all that into being adventurous with syrup, maybe I'll try it on my parents when we're back in the States this month!
ReplyDeletePRALINE SYRUP
1 ½ cups brown sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
½ cup water
½ cup chopped pecans, toasted
2 Tbs butter or margarine
Bring sugar, corn syrup and water to a boil. Boil 3 minutes. Add pecans and butter; simmer 2 minutes more. Serve warm.
I'm glad to know the substitution for corn syrup. On the back of our maple flavoring it has a recipe to make a thicker syrup, but I just didn't want to "waste" our corn syrup when everyone said thin syrup was ok...but I'll have to try it! And with some of the jams too. We'll have to check out the Ikea ones too. Thanks for all of the ideas!!
ReplyDeleteI made this tonight using cinnamon instead of blueberries...just cinnamon, sugar, water, and vanilla. My crew ate every bite! I served it with French toast and also sprinkled a bit of powdered sugar on just for fun. The cinnamon goes really well with French toast!
ReplyDeleteDo you have a go to waffle recipe that you use?
ReplyDeleteNot really. I usually use one out of either Better Homes and Gardens or Betty Crocker cookbooks--but I fast track and don't fold in egg whites and stuff. I haven't had a waffle iron for past couple years, but I actually am getting one in the next week or two so I'll be looking again! :)
ReplyDelete