Sweet Syrup Saturday....

If there is one thing that I know about cooking it is that nothing ever, ever has to be boring.  To me, bottled pancake syrup is just that.  Fake, flavorless and just flat.  Now this is my opinion.  There is nothing wrong with a cute little bottle of Aunt Jemima, really.  I haven't bought "regular" syrup (as my kids call it) in years.  All it took was me reading the label once to realize that I couldn't eat my pancakes and syrup too.

It just wasn't worth all of the calories to me and I also didn't want to fill my kids with the sugar first thing in the morning when they had empty stomachs.  My solution was to find a suitable sugar-free variety for common use and invest in a few good bottles of pure maple syrup.  As I have said before, I am a huge fan of Burton Maplewood Farms syrup.  Not only is it tasty but it it harvested and made in a cute little sugar house in southern Indiana.  Medora, to be exact.  I can feel good about serving this and for buying locally produced syrup at the same time.  I can use this maple sweetness in many things....you can't say that about Mrs. Butterworth :)

Something I like to do when I have fresh fruit, as I did last weekend, is to make a simple fruit syrup.  Really it's more like a warm compote but when I add a little bit of maple syrup at the end it gives you more of a thin consistency.

This particular syrup I made had 1 pint of blueberries, zest of 1/2 lemon, 1 TB of the lemon juice, 2 tsp. sugar and 1 TB of Burton's Maple Syrup (added before serving).
I cooked the blueberries down while I made the cinnamon french toast and both were done at the same time.

I have made this with peaches, currants, raspberries, blackberries...and many others.  I try to use fresh as opposed to frozen if I can because I like the consistency but you should use what you have.  There are no rules here...just do what feels right and taste as you go!