​On the picture, from left to right, you will see: Maple filled cookies, chocolate crunchies, classic shortbread with maple sugar topping and Linzer cookies.

Shortbread basic recipe
1 1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 1/3 cups flour
 
For the maple filling
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 ounces Maple syrup
a few drops Maple extract or flavouring
1.5 to 2 cups powdered sugar
 
For the Linzer jam-filled cookies
1/2  cup red jam such as strawberry or raspberry
 
Step 1: First things first, line 2 large baking trays with baking parchment and pop them aside for later. Get your cookie cutters out.
Step 2: Grab yourself a large bowl and pop in the butter and the sugar. Cream together until your mixture is nice and smooth. 
Step 3: Work in the flour, first with a hand mixer, then dive in with your hands. Make sure you get a nice even dough without cracks.  
Step 4: Divide the dough into two balls, cover with cling wrap and pop in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes. While your dough is chilling, it’s time to preheat the oven to 375°C fan/gas 5 - make sure to preheat at least 15 minutes before you’re ready to bake your cookies to allow the oven to get up to the right temperature.
Step 5: Sprinkle flour on your working surface, then roll out the dough. We like it to be even, around 1/3 inches high.
Step 6: Time for fun! Take your cookie cutters and cut out whatever shapes you like.
For the regular shortbread: Any shape will do!
For the maple double deckers: We like a flower shape. You will need an even amount of cut out cookies since they are double deckers, obviously.
For the Linzer jam-filled cookies: We like a circle shape for the bottom and a circle for the top. Cut out a heart or another small shape from the top circle. You will need the same amount of top as bottom parts.
Step 7: Pop your cookies in the oven and set a timer for 15 minutes. You’ll notice that they’re slightly soft when you take them out, but don’t worry they will firm up as they cool. You don’t want them to get brown since they will become bitter.
Step 8: For the maple icing: In a large mixing bowl, add butter, maple syrup, maple extract and whip it together until smooth. Gradually, add powdered sugar, while continuing to mix until frosting is thick and creamy.
 
TO DECORATE
Step 9: Once your cookies are cool, decorate the regular shortbread with maple sugar, melted dark chocolate, a sugar and cinnamon mixture or whatever you like.
Step 10: Pipe the maple frosting on one of the flower cookies and top off with another flower shape. Press lightly on the top to make sure they stick well together.
Step 11: For the Linzer Cookies, take a round cookie. Use a teaspoon and place some red jam in the middle. Place top part of the cookie over the jam. Sprinkle with icing sugar to your liking.  
Step 12: Ta-dah you can now enjoy your wonderful cookies! 

Now this should get you cooking: the upcoming Amazon prime series The Gastro Guru recently featured ROYAL Maple Lifestyle Syrup in their show.

In a super fun and entertaining segment, Jeremy Parsons whips up amazing cocktails and mouthwatering Canapés like a smoky maple Cesar, maple espresso martini, maple coffee glazed salmon and speck wrapped stuffed giant shrimp.
He also uses Maple Whisky from the Niagara Falls Craft Distillers which pairs beautifully with our syrups. Check out the entire episode on the YouTube Channel Access Luxury and don’t forget to leave a comment below.

1. Fall colours are caused by the amount of sugar in leaves
First things first: of course, we have to talk about the beautiful fall colours. The pigment that gives leaves their familiar green colour is called chlorophyll. However, the more favourable warm, sunny day and cool night temperature cycles that occur in early autumn, the more likely that fall season is to experience vibrant colours with lots of reds. The more red in the leaf, the more sugar that leaf is storing. That is why Maple trees are so vibrant. Evergreens don’t change because their leaves have a thick wax covering that protects the chlorophyl (green) in the leaves.

2. Pumpkin spice has nothing to do with pumpkins
Are you a PS lover? Did you know that pumpkin spice is actually the spice mix used for pumpkin pies? It is made from 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg, 1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice and 1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves. You can make it at home or buy it pre-mixed at the grocery store. For some amazing pumpkin spice recipes, check out this great cooking blog by Simply Stacie. 

3. Birds spend most of the fall migrating
Many birds spend this season travelling to mating grounds or finding food. Canada geese fly south in autumn and return to their birthplace in spring. If you think that the Swainson’s Hawk is crazy because it migrates 22,500 kilometres (14,000 miles), you haven’t met the Arctic Tern yet. The Arctic Tern is zigzagging from the North Pole to the South Pole, which accounts for an incredible 71,000 kilometres (44,000 miles). 

6. People wore Halloween costumes to either hide from ghosts or scare them
It has been suggested that the custom of wearing costumes on or around Halloween comes from the Celtic festivals of Samhain and Calan Gaeaf, or from the practise of "souling" during the Christian observance of Allhallowtide. Halloween costumes are traditionally based on frightening supernatural or folkloric beings or hiding from them.

7. Some places don’t have an autumn season
Autumn is a much loved season, especially in Canada and the Northeast of the United States such as New England. However, in tropical climates near the Equator, like the Caribbean islands, weather stays mild all year. Maybe this is why visitors to Maple Syrup Country cannot get enough of the beautiful fall foliage with its breathtaking red, yellow and orange leaf displays! 

Today, we are once more honoured and proud to deliver a very special product to an iconic Canadian brand: the No.99 Maple syrup, exclusively aged, bottled and labeled for the Wayne Gretzky Estates Distillery & Winery.

Maple Lifestyle and the Wayne Gretzky Estates Distillery & Winery partnered for the first time during the holiday season 2019/2020. For this All-Canadian story, 100% Premium Canadian Amber Maple Syrup is aged in Wayne Gretzky Red Cask Whisky barrels and sold under the iconic No.99 label. The No.99 Maple Syrup is an incredibly smooth, round specialty Maple Syrup full of spirited flavours with notes of caramel, vanilla and charred oak.
Customers cherish the premium product and beautiful packaging for special events or as a gift. 

Wayne Gretzky Estates Distillery & Winery and their parent company Andrew Peller Ltd. sell the No. 99 Maple Syrup directly at their retail store at 1219, Niagara-Stone-Road, Niagara-on-the-Lake and at other brick and mortar retail outlets in Ontario such as the Wine Shop. 

​Every 375 ml bottle is individually labelled in a two-step-process – first the front and then the back.
​
This season, we are especially proud of our beautiful new labels! Our personal favourite it is the Amber label, but actually  all of them are great! 

So next time you are looking for a special product, a gift or something to spoil yourself, please consider purchasing 100% premium Canadian maple syrup that has been crafted with a lot of time, love and passion.

To show our appreciation to those who keep the community safe, we have donated a few hundred bottles of the 50 ml Bourbon Barrel-Aged Maple Syrup to our local fire department. These men and women protect the community and save lives on a daily basis - with the coronavirus around they are also battling an invisible enemy that might not only put them, but also their loved ones at risk.
​
If you are a frontline worker and want to treat yourself or if you feel like showing your appreciation to somebody else, we offer 20% off all products with promo code HERO20. Simply browse the online shop, enter HERO20, and 20% will be taken off your checkout amount. Thank you!

The City TV hosts were obviously very excited about the mapley goodness. Spoiler alert: Co-host Roger snatches the bottle of Bourbon Maple Syrup at the end. 
To watch the entire segment, please click here. The Maple Lifestyle story starts at 5:08.

1. It takes about 40 litres of sap to make one litre of maple syrup
Most trees only yield between 35 and 55 litres of sap in a season, so producing syrup is a super labour-intensive process. To put it into perspective: a standard bathtub holds around 150 litres of water. If we filled such a bathtub with 150 litres of sap, it would only make 3.75 litres of syrup, which is a bit more than two cartons of Almond Milk.
 
2. A tree takes about 40 years before it’s big enough to tap
This is because the tree needs a diameter of at least 12 inches (30.5 cm) before it can be tapped. 

​3. Only three of 13 species of maple trees native to Canada are used for syrup
Sugar maples are the big ones, but black maple and red maple are also good for tapping.
 
4. Maple syrup has its season
Maple trees are tapped for their sap between late February and the height of spring, in early April. 

​5. Running sap is all about physics
As sugar maples grow, they convert starch into sugar. This sugar mixes with water absorbed by the trees’ roots. When temperatures start to climb in the spring, the water-sugar mixture expands, forcing its way from the roots up through the tree.
 
6. The syrup’s flavour depends on when the sap runs
Early season sap tends to be lighter in colour and flavour. Later in the season, when temperatures are warmer, the sap darkens.
 
7. There is a new grading system for producers that sell maple syrup internationally
This grading system has been in effect since January 2017. It uses the light transmission method to classify maple syrup. It also classifies the product by adding taste descriptions. “Golden Colour with Delicate Taste” has a light transmission of over 75%. “Amber Colour with Rich Taste” sits between 50% and 74.9%. The “Dark with Robust Taste” variation has a light transmission between 25% and 49.9% while “Very Dark with Strong Taste” only lets through less than 25% of light. 

8. The first written account of maple syrup production comes from 1606
Marc Lescarbot, a lawyer and writer in Acadia, describes the area’s indigenous peoples collecting “maple water” and “distilling” it to make syrup. Producing maple syrup is one of the few agricultural processes that is not a European colonial import.
 
9. What’s fake maple syrup made with? You might not want know.  
Brands like Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth use such ingredients as high fructose corn syrup, cellulose gum, and caramel colouring to create an inexpensive substance which only somewhat resembles the genuine article. Sure, it’s cheap, but it doesn’t even come close to the real thing. Which brings us to the next fun fact.
 
10. A quarter-cup of maple syrup is high in minerals
Pure maple syrup has the same beneficial classes of antioxidant compounds found in berries, tomatoes, tea, red wine, banana and broccoli. A 60 ml portion of maple syrup contains 100 percent of your recommended daily allowance of manganese, as well at 37 percent of riboflavin, 18 percent of zinc, 7 percent of magnesium, and 5 percent of calcium and potassium.

11. Stored properly, a sealed container of maple syrup can keep for several years
Unopened maple syrup can be stored at room temperature, but once opened, it should be stored in the refrigerator. Syrup can last a long time, but it can also crystallize or mould when unrefrigerated. Crystallization is a reflection of a syrup’s sugar content and isn’t harmful. Mould should be removed before boiling the for safe consumption.​
 
12. IHOP (the International House of Pancakes) has only one location out of 1400 that serves actual maple syrup
It is in South Burlington, Vermont. The franchise owner needed a special license from IHOP for this move.