Maple Pecans are puff pastries with maple syrup and pecans. You can try such pastries in cafes and restaurants, or you can cook them yourself. The cooking process itself does not require much effort from you, you just need to purchase puff pastry or make it yourself, you will also need pecans and, of course, maple syrup.
Maple Pecans Ingredients
This recipe is slightly different from the classic one, as it uses apples. Maple syrup, the recipe of which we will tell you, goes well with apple filling. The taste is indescribable.
Baking is made from puff yeast dough. It can be purchased at any supermarket. This option is suitable for those who do not like or do not want to mess with the test. Although homemade is still tastier. You will also need pecans and maple syrup.
Ingredients:
- Apples - 5 pcs.
- Wedge Syrup - 70 g.
- Butter - 45 g.
- Pecans - 10 pcs.
- Puff pastry - 400 g.
Maple Pecan Recipe
Ready dough from the store must be thawed. Peel the apples and remove the middle. Then they need to be fried in butter with the addition of maple syrup, which can be purchased at the store (though you have to look). Apples must be cooked until excess fluid is gone.
Next, grind two hundred grams of pecans. In this case, they are needed, because we are preparing maple pecans.
As soon as the apples are soaked in syrup, the filling is ready. It should cool. In the meantime, we will do the test. We cut it into 12 by 12 squares. On two sides we make oblique cuts in the form of a Christmas tree. In the middle of each piece, put the filling, crush it with nuts and apply a little more syrup. Now we braid our maple pecans with a pigtail.
The edges need to be carefully seasoned, and on top of the dough you can sprinkle a little more nuts. Puffs should stand for thirty minutes. At 180 degrees, the baking time will be no more than twenty minutes. As soon as the pastry becomes golden, it is ready, you can get it out of the oven. Six puffs are obtained from the indicated amount of products. They can be served with any drinks (tea, cappuccino, coffee).
As you can see, from puff yeast dough, bought at the store, baking is prepared quickly and without hassle.
Maple syrup
I would like to pay special attention to the product that is not quite usual for us - maple syrup. In principle, if you set a goal, then you can find it in stores. True, the price of it is a little overpriced, but for this recipe it is he who is needed, the other will not work.
In general, maple juice and syrup are very popular in Canada. In fact, this is the juice of the tree itself. It is harvested similarly to birch.
In Canada, this syrup is served with pancakes. It has a very interesting taste. The juice itself for the production of syrup can be taken from any wild maples of North America, but black and sugar maples are preferred. They have more sugar content.
It should be noted that maple syrup is easier to purchase in the store. Even if you manage to find the juice from which it is made, the cooking technology itself is extremely complex, it requires a lot of time and the availability of certain equipment.
How is maple syrup made? The recipe is that using special equipment for a long time there is evaporation of excess fluid from the juice.
It is not recommended to do this in the house, since the vapor settles on all surfaces, making them sticky. For cooking, you need a confectionery thermometer, a pan, an aerometer, a woolen filter (filters are not suitable for coffee machines).
Juice over a minimum heat is boiled slowly for a very long time, its density is monitored by an aerometer. Too viscous syrup is poorly stored because it is quickly sugared. Filter it hot and immediately plug it into airtight vessels.
The industrial production of syrup is a rather complicated process.
You can replace an expensive Canadian product with an ordinary 35% maple syrup with the addition of carob syrup and flavor. It turns out pretty good too.
Classic Maple Pecan
The recipe for maple pecans is completely straightforward. We offer you another option for making sweets.
Ingredients:
- Puff pastry - 1 kg.
- Roasted Pecans - 150 g.
- Maple Syrup - 100 g
- Cinnamon.
- Brown sugar - 3 tbsp. l
- Butter - 20 g.
- The protein of one egg.
- Powdered sugar.
So, to prepare the filling, place all the ingredients in a blender:
- 100 grams of nuts.
- Six tablespoons of syrup.
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon.
- Butter.
- Three tablespoons of brown sugar.
Cooking Maple Pecans
All these ingredients should be crushed and turned into a dense, homogeneous mass.
If your purchased puff pastry has a width of 24 centimeters, then cut it into two strips of 12 centimeters. Opposite edges cut obliquely. You got a ribbon that looks like a Christmas tree. Along the entire length you need to lay out the filling. And then we braid the edges like a pigtail. You can cut each such long braid into separate rolls. Then we transfer them to a baking sheet with parchment and send them to the refrigerator for half an hour. After this time, grease the surface of the puffs with protein and sprinkle with the remaining pecans. Put the baking sheet in the oven for twenty minutes.
Ready buns can also be sprinkled with syrup and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Such pastries at home never stale.
Pecan
I would like to say a few words about the unusual for us pecans. With us they are an exotic product, because they do not grow not only in our country, but even on our continent. But in North America, this is the most common nut from which simple and festive dishes are prepared.
Even before Columbus discovered America for local Indians, walnut was the basis of nutrition. He helped them survive, because it could be easily harvested for future use, he did not spoil, unlike the same meat.
What is a pecan, the price per 1 kg of which reaches 1200 rubles? Outwardly, it resembles a hazelnut or an olive fruit. But when peeled, the pecans are very similar to our walnuts. The shape is almost the same, resembling the convolutions of the brain. But to taste nuts are softer and more tender than walnuts.
Of course, in baking, pecans (the price per 1 kg differs in different regions) can be replaced with our walnut. And you can treat yourself to exotic.
What is the use of walnut?
Like any other nut, pecans contain many vitamins, minerals and fats. It is very healthy and nutritious. A couple of nuts can saturate and give strength to a person, not for nothing that the Indians considered it a miraculous product.
The main difference between pecans and walnuts is the lack of bitterness in taste and internal partitions. They are much more convenient to clean, while they do not break.
Pecan has a high content of vitamins A, E, as well as group B. It has folic acid, potassium, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium and calcium. The usefulness and versatility of the product allows it to be widely used in cooking.
How to cook pecan dough on your own?
Maple pecans turn out much tastier from home-made dough, purchased, of course, saves time, but does not always have good quality.
Ingredients:
- Flour - ½ kg.
- Sugar - 3 tbsp. l
- Dry yeast - 10 g (or fresh - 25 g).
- Salt - ¾ tsp
- Eggs - 2 pcs.
- Milk - 200 ml.
- Half a pack of oil.
First you need to cook the dough. To do this, dissolve a tablespoon of sugar in warm milk and put in a warm place for ten minutes. Eggs must be divided into yolks and squirrels. Beat the yolks with sugar in a good strong foam (add a pinch of salt). Add the resulting mixture to the dough. Then gradually introduce the proteins and vegetable oil. Mix it all and in small portions gradually add all the flour. Next, knead the dough, it should come out soft and elastic.
Now let's move on to the most difficult moment in the preparation of puff pastry. It must be rolled out and put pieces of oil in the middle, then wrap the upper and lower edges, then the right and left. And now you should roll out the dough, but only in one direction, otherwise the layers will disappear. This must be done carefully so that the oil does not burst out. Then for half an hour it needs to be placed in the refrigerator, and then repeat the procedure again. Even if the dough breaks, then there is nothing wrong with that, you can add a new portion of flour and continue the process.
Of course, such a procedure will take you time, but the result will exceed all expectations.
Instead of an afterword
If you love puff pastries, be sure to please loved ones with maple pecans. A wonderful, unusual sweet dish will appeal to all sweet tooth. Moreover, it is cooked with exotic nuts. Such a dessert will be enjoyed not only by children, but also by adults.