4 Decadent Dessert Recipes Made with Michigan Maple Syrup

This article first appeared in Traverse Northern Michigan. Find this story and more when you explore our magazine library. Want Traverse delivered to your door or inbox monthly? View our print subscription and digital subscription options.

Of all the ingredients in my pantry, I’m most charmed by the multitudes contained in maple syrup. It’s a workhorse—just a glug whisked with garlic, olive oil, Dijon and lemon juice becomes a simple, sublime salad dressing. And it’s a show horse, taking an otherwise homespun cake to ethereal heights in a swirling cloak of maple icing.

Whenever I call on its golden touch in the kitchen, I’m also cheering on the tree-tapping, sap-lugging, fire-stoking devotion of maple syrup makers across Northern Michigan.

A drizzle of this pure Michigan-made syrup gives a deep, beguiling deliciousness to spiced nuts; transforms a silk pie filling; and vibrantly infuses crème brûlée before it’s caramelized to a dramatic crackle. Whichever you choose to make for your next gathering (perhaps one coming right around the corner?), know that dessert will taste like the Northwoods. It will taste like home.

Apple Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Serves 12

Two glories of the fall harvest—juicy apples and earthy carrots—make this a dense, moist cake that can’t come out dry. Crown with maple-tinged cream-cheese frosting. Any leftover frosting makes a perfect treat sandwiched between graham crackers.

Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1⁄2 cups grated carrots
• 1 1⁄2 cups finely chopped apples
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1⁄4 cups canola oil
• 4 large eggs

Frosting

• 12 ounces cream cheese (1 1⁄2 boxes Philadelphia brand), room temperature
• 1⁄2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 2 1⁄4 cups powdered sugar (little less than one box of Domino brand)
• 1⁄4 cup pure maple syrup

Directions For Cake
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch cake pans. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Stir in carrots and apples and toss to coat. In a separate large bowl, whisk sugar and oil until blended. Whisk in eggs. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Divide batter between baking pans. Bake cakes until they spring back to the touch or a toothpick comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool cakes in pans for 15 minutes. Turn out onto racks.

Directions For Frosting
Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat at low speed until well blended. Beat in maple syrup. After frosting cake, keep in refrigerator until serving.

Maple Crème Brûlée

Serves 4

Tasting a nip of Harwood Gold’s infused maple syrups is like tasting gold indeed. We loved the Saffron & Apricot at first blush, then immediately started dreaming of a custard imbued with its sweet, floral and tart notes. The coffee bean or chai spice-infused syrups would also add welcome verve to this classic dessert.

Ingredients & Equipment

• 5 egg yolks
• 1 Tablespoon maple sugar (or brown sugar)
• 1⁄4 cup Harwood Gold infused maple syrup
• 1 1⁄2 cups heavy cream
• 6 teaspoons granulated sugar to caramelize on top of custards
• Equipment: Shallow ramekins, clean dish towel, kitchen blow torch

5. Let the ramekins cool in their water bath. Once cool, place custards covered with plastic wrap in the fridge for two hours (or for up to 3 days) before serving.

To serve, sprinkle 1–2 teaspoons granulated sugar over the top. For best results, use a small handheld torch to caramelize. Otherwise, place under a preheated broiler until caramelized. Keep a close watch (when it caramelizes, it happens fast)! 

Read Next: Michigan Pasty Recipe Featuring Fall Root Vegetables

Spiced Maple-Glazed Nuts

Nibble on these with a cup of tea, scatter them on a cheeseboard with a juicy sliced pear and mellow goat cheese, or serve by the dishful at a cocktail hour with people you really like.

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons melted butter
• 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons cardamom
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups raw, unsalted pecans
• 3 Tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• Zest of one medium orange

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix butter, syrup, spices and salt in a medium bowl. Add pecans and mix well to coat. On a foil- or parchment-lined baking sheet, spread nuts in an even layer and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle fresh rosemary and orange zest over the hot nuts. Allow to cool then store in an airtight container.

Read Next: 3-Ingredient Roasted Chestnuts

Salted Maple Caramel Silk Pie

Serves 8

Nab a couple of jars of American Spoon’s salted maple caramel to make this salty-sweet, crunchy-cool dream pie. The maple caramel is made in small batches in Petoskey using Charlevoix-harvested maple syrup.

Crust

• 1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 cup almond flour
• 1⁄3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 ounces cold butter, cut in 1” pieces
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling

• 2 jars American Spoon Salted Maple Caramel
• 1 teaspoon powdered gelatin
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 1 1⁄2 cups heavy cream
• Crushed pretzels and chopped peanuts, to garnish

For the crust
1. Place flours, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add cold butter and process until pea sized. Add eggs and vanilla extract; pulse just until dough comes together. Turn dough out between two pieces of parchment paper. Press into a disk, then wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
2. Remove dough from fridge and roll out to a 1/8-inch-thick round. Flour the dough to keep from sticking to rolling pin. Transfer dough to a 10-inch tart pan and press it into pan with your fingers. Fold excess dough back into the pan to make a double-wall crust. Press together snugly, then trim any excess. Chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3. Cover dough with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake in 350°F oven for 30 minutes, then remove parchment paper and pie weights. Bake for 10 minutes more, or until the crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

For frosting
1. While crust cools, heat 1 1⁄2 jars of caramel in small pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 2–3 minutes, stirring constantly. Once sauce has thickened, pour into tart shell in even layer. Let cool at room temperature for one hour.
2. Place gelatin and water in small bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to hydrate. Using stand mixer with whisk attachment, whip cream on medium-high until medium peaks form.
3. Microwave gelatin-water mixture until gelatin is just dissolved, about 10–15 seconds. Start whipping cream again, on low. Add gelatin mixture and remaining caramel and return to medium-high speed. Whip until caramel is incorporated and mixture thickens slightly.
4. When ready to serve, pile the caramel-whipped cream into tart shell and garnish with crushed pretzels and peanuts.

Read Next: Make Black Walnut Biscotti for the Holidays

Find Local Michigan Syrup Near You

Northern Michigan is home to ancient maple-sugaring traditions, and family maple farms producing gallons of gorgeous amber-hued syrup. Here, just a handful of makers and purveyors we’ve sourced for these recipes:

Pa Brown’s Maple Syrup | Northport
Jim Brown is better known in Leelanau County as Pa Brown. His namesake syrup is a hyperlocal legend, as countless syrup-seekers pop by each season to pick up their precious quart or two. Brown found his niche—and devotees—turning sap to syrup on his 40-acre property back in 2009. As a retired chemical engineer, he says, it just clicked. Friends and neighbors join the harvest and all proceeds from the syrup go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Look for the yellow Pa Brown’s sign on M-22 just south of Northport, or call ahead at 231.386.5882.

American Spoon | Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Charlevoix & Traverse City
The 41-year-old preserve company offers regular and whiskey maple syrup and jarred maple cream in addition to a best-selling salted maple caramel. “We use Currey Farms dark, robust maple syrup, which stands up to the butter and cream used in making the caramel,” shares owner Noah Marshall-Rashid, “so the woodsy, earthy maple flavors shine through.” He adds, “The Curreys are extraordinary people carrying on a multi-generational tradition on their Charlevoix farm.”

Visit the American Spoon website to explore their syrups and so much more.

Harwood Gold | Charlevoix
The Parsons family’s Charlevoix County homestead in the forest near Harwood Lake was established in 1898; today, fifth-generation sisters Amber and Katie continue to tap the trees and develop products like maple peanut butter, black-fig maple spread and their incredibly complex and luscious maple syrup infusions (cinnamon quill, bay leaf, ghost pepper and makrut lime, to name a few).

Learn more on the Harwood Gold website.