We’re coming up to those special two weeks which my mother always loved so much when we lived in Canada – the Fall. I don’t know what climatic conditions exist there, but unlike in England where autumn is definitely a ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ lasting a good couple of months, in Canada it all happens at once – whole mountainsides suddenly becoming aflame with reds, golds, shocking pinks even.

I’ve also just lost the biscuit-eating colleague who used to sit next to me – he’s moved to another room.

So now seems an appropriate time to make biscuits with maple syrup. These are a sort of maple-syrup-incorporating development of Anzac biscuits.

To know more about maple syrup, follow this link.

To know more about the difference between pecans and walnuts, follow this link.

Recipe for Canadian maple syrup cookies

This makes about 12

Ingredients

• 135g/1½ cups rolled oats
• 50g/½ cup desiccated coconut
• 165g/1⅓ cups plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 220g/1 cup soft brown sugar
• 125/4 oz (½ brick) butter
• 4 tbs maple syrup – ideally a No 2, amber
• 1 tbs agave nectar – if you don’t happen to have this, use a strong-tasting honey – chestnut for example – or an extra spoon of maple syrup
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tbsp boiling water
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 150g/1¼ cups chopped, dry-fried pecans, alternatively you could use skinned hazelnuts

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC.
2. In a large mixing bowl mix the dry ingredients except the bicarbonate of soda.
3. Melt the butter with the syrups in a small saucepan, leave to cool, and add the vanilla paste.
4. Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the boiling water, add to syrup mixture.
5. Add the syrup mixture and the nuts to the dry ingredients.
6. Place balls of dough, each about a tablespoon in volume on a baking sheet and squish gently
7. Bake for about ten minutes.

This post is dedicated to J.B.