It is the time of year again when all sorts of maple goodies start to show up in the shops, following a season in the sugar woods and all those great pancake dinners. There are a few places near by where I live where you can purchase maple products right where they are produced, but they’re also available pretty much anywhere. Maple syrup seems to stick around for a longer time frame, but the maple cream and maple butters seem to have a shorter appearance (although the MPANS website states you can freeze maple butter).
So for this recipe, I wanted to make use of a tub of maple butter I had picked up Hunter’s maple products in Springhill, to create a kind of turtle cheesecake, substituting it for the caramel in the recipe. This is the stuff you’re looking for (and good stuff it is!):
On to the recipe!
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Line the bottom of an 8 inch springform pan with parchment and set aside. I also usually put a little foil around the outside of the pan to prevent any butter leakage into the oven.
Combine:
- 1 cup chocolate cookie crumbs
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 6 tbsp melted butter
Press this mixture along the bottom and slightly up the sides of the springform pan, and set aside while you make the batter. In your mixer combine:
- 4 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
- 1/2 cup maple butter
- 1/2 cup maple syrup (I used Brigg’s)
- 1 tsp maple extract
- 4 large eggs, one at a time, scraping sides of bowl a few times in between.
Pour this mixture into the prepared crust, and bake for 50-60 minutes, until centre of cake appears set. Turn oven off and leave oven door slightly ajar to cool for a while, before moving to a cooling rack or fridge to cool completely.
When you are ready to complete the cake, run a knife around the inner edge of the springform pan, release the spring, and transfer the cake to a serving platter, removing the parchment in the process.
Top cake with:
- 100 grams of chopped walnuts
And use any remaining maple butter, warmed, to drizzle over the top of the cake. The tub I used had about a cup in there, so I probably used about 1/3 cup of the maple butter to top the cake, after I had warmed it slightly in the microwave.
Finish the cake with:
- 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted with
- 2 tbsp butter.
Drizzle this over the top of cake.
Voila! Maple-y goodness to share with friends 🙂
Sugar n' Stuff 