Happy Easter - Sugar Shack Time!

There is this great tradition in Quebec, if you haven’t heard of it, it’s called Sugaring Off. Since 90% of Quebec is rural, the province is probably your number 1 producer of pure maple syrup. The time to collect maple sap from the sugar bush (forest of maple trees) is when the sap in the trees thaw, which is around March and April here in Canada. So every Quebecer at one time or another during the two months makes their way to their favourite Cabane a Sucre, or Sugar Shack. Each place serves their own maple syrup from their harvest along with a crazy amount of traditional Québécois food.

This Easter there was no beautiful ham or roast beef, no gravy, no Yorkshire pudding (of which my mom makes the best!) and no wonderfully mashed potatoes. This year my parents and my brother packed up the house and drove up to Montreal for the long weekend. Once here we have all proceeded to stuff our faces with everything from Shish Taouk from Boustan's, steamies from La Belle Provence, breakfast at St. Viateur Bagels(one of the best Montréal bagel places in the world) another mound of French toast, eggs Florentine, bacon, ham and sausage breakfast at Cafe Orange, dinner at a tiny dinner that only 13 people can fit in and is known as one of the greatest poutine places in Montréal (guess what we had?), and finally a wonderful dinner at Taverne, where dessert was none other than a maple chocolate bread pudding and mascarpone maple walnut cheesecake.

As if that wasn’t enough we ran into a store that sells only Brome Lake duck… in all of its many forms. My brother went crazy with joy and had a duck poutine made with duck gravy, duck confit, fries and squeaky cheese curds. You can tell that the cheese curds are fresh because when you eat them they sound like two balloons making love.

Now you would think that we would never want to see Québécois cuisine for at least a little while, but you would be wrong. This Easter we picked up Ian and piled into the car for a 45 minute drive into the Laurentians. We ended up at the ‘Cabane a Sucre Constantine’ which was a massive place, much bigger than most family run places, but we didn't have reservations and we were only there for one thing... the brunch. The event (yes this was definitely an event) started off with creton, fresh breads, coleslaw and four different preserves, pickles, pickled beets, pickled onions, and a very traditional melange of tomatoes and vegetables that they call Ketchup, but is definitely not of the Heinz family. Then came the pea soup, known to keep French Canadian lumberjacks warm. Next they brought out this HUGE fluffy omelette made of at least 10-15 eggs that our family shared topped with maple ham and craquelins. On the side we had maple sausage, maple baked beans, and some simple potatoes. Then you were supposed to drizzle maple syrup all over everything, so I did, I didn’t want to disappoint. Finally for dessert we had a Tarte au Syrup d'érable (maple syrup tart), crêpes with maple syrup and pouding au chômeur which I still am not sure as to its contents, basically I just think it's like a sponge cake baked with maple syrup then covered in more syrup. Needless to say we were stuffed.

After the brunch Ian and I took a stroll down to the tire d'érable hut, a place where they boil down maple syrup until it is very thick, then they drizzle it on snow and when it’s cold you roll it up with a stick and eat it. Brilliant eh!
It’s huge here, so I just wanted to show another picture of when Ian and I had it in Quebec City.


So that was my weekend, I hope you all had a great Easter and I can’t wait to hear about everyone’s holidays. Oh, and I'm sorry about this month, exams are starting and even if I do bake or cook, it's in between studying so Ian hasn't been around to take pictures. Booerns. But come April 29th at 10pm I will be freeeeeee and Coco Bean will resume its normal posting.

Maple Cranberry Banana Mini Muffins

I know, the pic isn’t nearly as nice as the normal ones, that’s because Ian is still sick at home and I had to use my old school floppy disk camera. Plus I suck at photography and no amount of photoshoping will fix it. Some time soon Ian is going to teach me how to use his beautiful SLR, but I fear the photography gene is not in me and his camera wont help all that much. I even got out his fancy light box to see if it would help take a better picture. It didn’t, it actually created quite the opposite effect, and so, to help my sadness I ate all four of these mini muffins that I so neatly lined up for the photo shoot, plus a couple more.

Its alright though, these mini's were made for healthy snacking. They are packed full of banana that replace most, but not all of the butter, maple syrup instead of white sugar, whole wheat flour, egg whites, orange zest, walnuts, and glorious cranberries. I took one look at them on food blogga (who's pic is so much nicer) and had to put a Canadian spin on them with some maple syrup and walnuts. Also I tried to cut down the butter to a mere 3 tbsp. Not bad eh.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when bakers don’t put enough cranberries in their muffins, or they only put them on top so that it looks like the muffin is crammed with burst in your mouth berries, but really it is just a dry mess underneath. So, I decided to cram these little guys with cranberries, and then place one on the top like a beautiful red ruby.

They are really good in the morning, and I typically have been eating them before dinner, after dinner, at lunch, and throughout the day. So, I guess they make the perfect anytime snack.

Maple Cranberry Banana Mini Muffins
adapted from Food Blogga
Makes about 36 mini muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
4 egg whites
2 ripe bananas
zest of one orange
2/3 fresh or frozen, unthawed cranberries
1/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add mini paper muffin cups to mini muffin pan. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, butter, and eggs; beat until smooth. Add the bananas and orange zest and lightly beat until blended. Add the flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Fold in the cranberries and walnuts. Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin cups. Bake 13-15 minutes, or until the tops are golden.