Maple Syrup Butter Cups

DIY Butter Cups filled with real Canadian Maple Syrup! What could go better with Waffles on a cold winter morning?

Sometimes I like to play with my food. Especially on a fun breakfast with the family. I was eating a peanut butter cup one day and I thought I could make one out of butter and fill it with maple syrup. I had a tiny muffin tray and picked up some mini paper liners.

1. Next step was to take room temperature butter and spoon it into the liners. with your finger spread the butter to the top of the cup and make sure that there is full coverage on all sides and the bottom.
2. Put this in the freezer until the butter solidifies. 1/2 hour or so.
3. Take out the tray and fill each cup with real Canadian Maple Syrup (it would be a travesty not to use the best syrup) make sure you leave a bit of room for the "lid".
4. Put this back in the freezer to harden again. (Note: I learned something here... I thought that the maple syrup would solidify or at least get very thick like molasses. It does not it was just slightly thicker than normal)
5. Pull it out of the freezer and spread a layer of butter over the top. Since the cup is freezing cols the butter will pretty much harden as soon as you put it on.
6. Carefully peel off the paper liners making sure to not hold them too long as the ridges will melt quickly. Back into freezer for a bit to re-harden.
7. Since the butter top hardens quickly it is hard to get smooth. I used a blowtorch to melt the top a bit to make it smooth.
8. Put the tray in the fridge until you are ready to use them.

You now have Maple Syrup Butter Cups!

These waffles are crunchy on the outside. They are caramelized due to a secret ingredient: chunks of sugar
sugar cubes. They are flaky and buttery and soft through the middle. These are traditional Belgian
waffles from Liege a city in Belgium, where these are famous and commonly sold by street vendors.

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of dry yeast (7g, 1/4oz)
• 1/3 cup lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 tbsp white sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt

Mix the dry yeast, water, sugar and salt together in a small bowl and set aside for about 15 minutes to let the mixture develop.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups plain flour
• 3 eggs
• 220g unsalted butter, softened (1 cup)

Place the flour into a large bowl or into the bowl of your electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Make a well in the flour and pour in the yeast mixture. Begin to knead.
Still kneading, add the eggs, one at a time. Then add the butter about 2 tablespoons at a time, mixing until each addition is incorporated. The final dough will look like a mixture between cake batter and bread dough.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise until it doubles in size (about 1 1/2 hours).

To make the traditional toffee-like centers in the waffle you need to add chunks of sugar. In Europe you can buy "Pearl Sugar" but in North America it is very hard to find. The best substitute is to take the little square sugar cubes and pound them up a little bit. I put the cubes in a zip lock bag and used a 10lb weight to pound them into 1/4 inch chunks.

Gently mix in the sugar chunks and let it rest for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat your waffle iron.

Once the waffle iron is hot and the dough rested, scoop dough onto each waffle plate.
Cook the waffles for about 5 minutes, until golden brown, crunchy and the sugar is caramelized.
Makes about 8 medium-sized waffles.

I hope you enjoyed!