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by Alea Milham1 Comment
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Maple syrup can be used to sweetened anything you would normally sweeten with sugar. Here is how to substitute maple syrup for sugar in recipes, as well as 15 recipes using maple syrup.
While I realize that maple syrup is a spring food since the trees are usually tapped in the spring. The long shelf life of syrup means it can be used any time of year. My youngest son loves Sugar Maple trees so much that we bought him one and planted it in our yard so he has his own source of Maple leaves. And in the mind of a six-year-old, it is a very short leap from doing a fall leaf craft project to enjoying some maple syrup.
Syrup doesn’t need to be limited to topping pancakes and waffles. It is delicious used in recipes. Maple Syrup not only sweetens the dish, but it also adds a depth of flavor missing from white sugar.
How to Substitute Maple Syrup for Sugar:
If you want to substitute maple syrup for honey, it is easy because you do not have to do any conversions: You can replace honey with maple syrup one for one. However, it is a little more complicated to substitute maple syrup for sugar.
Maple syrup is sweeter than sugar, so you will use less of it than you would of sugar. To substitute maple syrup for sugar in recipes, use 2/3 – 3/4 cup of syrup for 1 cup of sugar.
When you are replacing the sugar with syrup in a recipe like glazed carrots, you don’t have to worry about the liquids, but when you are substituting maple syrup for sugar in baked goods, you will need to reduce the liquids by a small amount. If you use 1 cup of syrup, then reduce the liquids by 3 tablespoons. I find it easiest to measure the normal amount of liquid called for in the recipe in a Pyrex measuring cup and then spoon out the excess liquid.
If a cake recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar, you would use 1 1/3 – 1 1/2 cups maple syrup and then reduce the liquid in the recipe by 4 tablespoons (or a quarter cup).
To help figure out the exact amounts use these conversions:
4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup
3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
Don’t want to worry about the math, then try a recipe that calls for maple syrup!
15 Recipes Using Maple Syrup:
Give these delicious Ginger Pear Mini Pies a try this fall and savor all kinds of flavors from the season.
This was originally published 9/27/2013 and was updated and republished 3/21/2018.
About Alea Milham
Alea Milham is the owner of Premeditated Leftovers and the author of Prep-Ahead Meals from Scatch. She shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home. Her favorite hobby, gardening, is a frugal source of organic produce for her recipes. She believes it is possible to live fully and eat well while spending less.
Comments
Patricia Ramseysays
Are you using ‘real’ maple syrup? Can you use pancake syrup the same way? Someone gave me bottles and bottles of pancake syrup so I have been experimenting. So far I can substitute pancake syrup for sugar used in my homemade bread. It has a richer flavor that especially goes well with oatmeal and whole wheat bread. I have not had to adjust the liquids for these.
To replace white sugar with maple syrup in general cooking, it is ideal to use ¾ cup of maple syrup for every one cup of sugar. When it comes to baking, that same amount is used but also be sure to reduce the amount of overall liquid in the recipe by about three tablespoons for each cup of maple syrup substituted.
A quart (one liter) of syrup will yield about 2 pounds (one Kg) of granulated sugar. Granulated maple sugar is prepared by heating maple syrup until the temperature is 45° to 50° F (25° to 28° C) above the boiling point of water.
Maple syrup is about as sweet as sugar, so you can replace it using an equal amount of syrup (e.g., for 1 cup of sugar, use 1 cup of maple syrup). Decrease the liquid by 3 to 4 tablespoons per 1 cup substitution.
Maple syrup offers a delicious caramel, toffee-like flavor, making it ideal for fall treats like pumpkin bread or oatmeal muffins. To use it in baking, use ¾ cup maple syrup per 1 cup of white or brown sugar, says Ziata.
It depends on whether that recipe is for baking or general cooking. In baking muffins, if your recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, then use 1 cup of Maple Syrup and cut back on the liquid; for example if the recipe calls for 1 cup of milk, then just use half a cup of milk.
The most straightforward approach is to simply replace one cup of granulated cane sugar with one cup of granulated maple sugar. In this case you gain the extra flavors from maple while the sweetness and the liquid stay in balance.
If using maple syrup, for each cup of sugar a recipe calls for, use ¾ cup of maple syrup and reduce the other liquids by ¼ cup. Using granulated maple sugar is even easier as that can be substituted 1:1 in any recipe.
In order to meet the legal definition, maple syrup must have a sugar content of at least 66 brix (this equates to 66 percent sugar content) at 60°F. Many producers also further process the syrup into value-added products.
"It is confusing, but the easiest way to think about it is that maple syrup is sugar, so it counts toward your daily intake of added sugars, but it doesn't contain added sugars," says Amy Keating, RD, a nutritionist and food test program leader at CR.
There are 216 calories in a 1/4 cup serving and 55.6 grams of carbohydrate. Of those 55.6 grams, 50.2 are sugars. There is no fiber in maple syrup so there is a very small amount of starch.
Brown sugar is known to have more vitamins and minerals than white sugar, however it still offers slightly less nutritional value than pure maple syrup. Maple syrup has fewer calories and also offers more calcium, riboflavin and manganese than brown sugar.
The best alternative to raw sugar, and the one with the closest texture, is muscovado sugar, which offers a higher nutrient content, molasses, and the coarseness found in raw sugar. Muscovado sugar does have more moisture than other sugars though, meaning you would need to factor this into cooking time.
Maillard reactions are the same reactions that browns the crust of baked bread or gives French fries that golden color. They also provide the coloring for maple syrup. The more glucose and fructose sugars in the boiling sap and the longer the sap boils, the darker the syrup will be.
Replacing refined sugar with pure, quality maple syrup is likely to yield a net health benefit, but adding it to your diet will just make things worse. Maple syrup is a less bad version of sugar, much like coconut sugar. It cannot objectively be labeled healthy.
Maple syrup is a healthier alternative to sugar. Maple syrups are not processed like the other kind of sweeteners we use in our daily life, so it still contains most nutrients from their natural state. The less someone changes an ingredient's original form, the more nutritional value will be kept.
As a natural sweetener, pure maple syrup contains more nutrients than table sugar and is therefore considered a healthier alternative to table sugar. However, it's still high in sugar, and like any sweetener should be enjoyed in moderation. That said, if you are to pick one, pure maple syrup is the natural choice.
Yes, it has more antioxidants and minerals than table sugar. So, should you add maple syrup to your diet because of this? No. But, if you're going to use sugar in a recipe, you might as well substitute in maple syrup since it's slightly better for you than refined sugar.
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