National Maple Syrup Day 2016: 5 Recipes To Enhance With Delicious Sweetener

Breakfast food lovers, rejoice! Saturday marked National Maple Syrup Day! The "holiday" gives people the rare excuse to go nuts with the sugary substance and indulge in a pancake breakfast or a stack of waffles.

While there are all sorts of recipes and brands that make delicious variants on the sweet syrup (strawberry, cinnamon are just a couple additional flavors to try), traditional maple syrup is the honorary flavor to celebrate this holiday.

Maple syrup, made from the sap of maple trees, can require around 45 to 50 gallons of the tree’s sap according to Boston.com. The traditional syrup has been around for a while, too. "Maple Sugaring" can be traced back to the 16th century, according to the University of Vermont Library. Over the centuries, the maple-y substance has been spread over flapjacks and pancakes and can be used as a sweetener for almost anything.

Today, maple syrup is most commonly spread on sweet breakfast items like pancakes and waffles, but it can also be used to sweeten cereals, applesauce, oatmeal, even as a glaze on dessert cakes.

In honor of this sweet, sweet holiday, here are a few recipes to whip up and top off with some maple syrup.

1. Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Cinnamon Cream: No one knows baked goods like Paula Deen. In this recipe for “Food Network,” she has a comforting but ridiculously delicious take on the traditional chocolate chip pancakes. It's paired off with home-made cinnamon cream. Drizzle the maple syrup over this stack before adding a dollop of the cream.

2. Crunchy Maple French Toast with Maple-Whiskey Butter: This French toast recipe might be the one to end all French toasts. Courtesy of Food52, this breakfast dish calls for maple syrup to be mixed directly into the homemade butter.

3. Pumpkin Maple Bourbon Pie: This recipe came courtesy of the Brooklyn-based Pie Corps. If you’re looking to use your maple syrup for a dessert, a pie might be the way to go. The maple goes well with the pumpkin flavor.

4. Maple Glazed Bacon: Yes, it’s exactly how it sounds and easy to make. Bake a pan of bacon strips drenched in maple syrup to create a sweet and salty caramelized treat.

5. Use As a Glaze for Roasted Squash or Root Vegetables: Maple syrup is great for dinner, too. Get your kids to eat their veggies by dousing root vegetable or squash in maple syrup to sweeten the deal.