I was at Trader Joes the other day and saw organic maple sugar for an excellent price. I immediately bought it and started thinking about how I can use it. I love the flavor of maple (which is why my Basset Hound is named Maple). I also love the buttery taste of shortbread. I happen to love an intense flavor of maple so I added some maple extract but if you don’t want an intense maple flavor leave it out or substitute vanilla extract.
I got the original recipe here at epicurious.com. I modified it slightly. Here is how I made it:
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1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
7 tablespoons finely ground maple sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon fine table salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons pure maple syrup (preferably Grade B)
1/2 teaspoon of maple extract or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
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1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease one 9 inch round cake pan.
2. Cream together 6 tablespoons of maple sugar and butter.
3. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time until dough comes together.
4. Add extract.
5. Pat dough evenly into cake pan. Disperse chips randomly and push into dough.
6. With a pastry brush, brush the cookies with the maple syrup and then sprinkle on remaining maple sugar.
7. Bake for 55 minutes or until brown and firm to the touch.
Cut into wedges and cool. The recipe says 16 servings but in my house it was about 8 servings 🙂
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