Soft biscuit-dough dumplings dropped directly into boiling maple syrup, where they cook and absorb the syrup into a sticky, spoonable dessert. An emblematic sugaring-off dessert, folk etymology says they were made by the family grandfather.
Grands-pères au sirop d'érable are an emblematic temps des sucres, sugaring-off, dessert of rural Quebec. Soft biscuit-dough dumplings are dropped directly into boiling maple syrup, where they cook and absorb the syrup into a sticky, spoonable dessert. Folk etymology says they were made by the family grandfather, too old for the heavy labour of the sugar shack but given the task of stirring the sirop and whipping up these dumplings. The dish is a sugar-shack classic, eaten during the spring syrup season.
Soft, fluffy, faintly sweet dumplings saturated with hot maple syrup, the syrup thickened into a glossy sauce around them. Eaten warm by the spoonful, it is intensely maple, sticky and the pure taste of the sugar shack.
The dumpling dough is a simple biscuit of flour, baking powder, butter, salt and milk, kept soft. The maple syrup is brought to a boil with a little water (to prevent it burning over the long cook), and the dumplings are dropped directly in and poached in the syrup, covered. The dumplings absorb the syrup as they cook, and the syrup reduces into a sauce around them. The covered poaching is what cooks the dumplings through without drying them.
Variations
A richer version adds cream to the syrup. Some cooks flavour the dough with a little vanilla.
On the Palate
Where Grands-pères au Sirop sits in the Canadian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
6 steps · 15 min
- 16 min
For the dumplings, mix 250g flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp sugar; cut in 60g cold butter, then stir in 150ml milk to a soft dough.
Watch outKeep the biscuit dough soft — over-mix or over-flour it and the dumplings poach up tough and dense.
- 24 min
In a wide pot, bring 500ml maple syrup and 150ml water to a gentle boil.
- 34 min
Drop tablespoon-sized dumplings directly into the boiling syrup, leaving space between them.
- 415 min
Cover tightly and simmer 15 minutes without lifting the lid, until the dumplings are puffed and cooked through.
Watch outCover tight and don't lift the lid for the full 15 minutes — every peek lets the steam out and the dumplings sink and go gummy.
- 52 min
Rest 2 minutes off the heat.
- 63 min
Scoop into bowls, dumplings and syrup together, and serve warm with cream.
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