Dave & Jen with a waffle-worthy bottle of syrup

Due to its location and efforts to minimize ecological impact, the event didn’t have a huge number of runners. Nonetheless, I was still excited to win the award given to the first finisher in each age class: a bottle of real maple syrup from neighboring Wisconsin. A prize just doesn’t get any more fitting than that! We’ve already gone through about a third of the bottle, which I agreed to share with Jen because she completed her first 10K that day.  All right, I may have shared it with her even if she hadn’t run…

While I most regularly use the darker grade B syrup from our Co-op, I have to say that this stuff (from Maas Sugarbush, which appears to have no information on the web) is also pretty darn tootin’ good. I’m not sure of the grade, but it’s a bit darker than some of the grade A amber syrups we’ve had, with nearly the same thickness as the grade B we normally use. It has plenty of maple flavor alongside the sweetness. On a hot day, it’s also great to mix a bit of it with some chilled hazelnut milk and a few ice cubes. If you’re ever in that region of the world, it’s worth taking home a bottle for your vegan waffles or pancakes, even if you don’t feel like running around on an island.

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup vegan margarine
• 1/4 cup soymilk or other nondairy milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients except the vanilla extract in a small saucepan. Stir constantly and briskly over medium heat until half a minute after it begins to boil. Continue to scrape the bottom to incorporate any dry cocoa and keep it from burning. Immediately remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Don’t eat it all before you have a chance to spoon some onto a waffle!