This is a crepeau; Dan thinks the name comes from the local patois for "toad", referring to the shape. It is a traditional Quebecois springtime dessert/breakfast/sugarhouse item.
He asked me to make them for him, and it took me three days of figuring out how to do it without contaminating the house with wheat flour. Then I remembered this:
All set to go, even levened already. All that's remaining is a Hail Mary, since I only had enough mix to make one test batch of dumplings.
One cup of mix and 2 TB of cold butter in the processor. Pulse, pulse.
Butter incorporated and ready for the wet ingredients.
1/2 cup of half and half, whisked together with one large egg from the farm - note how orange the yolk is!
Mix together, and let set at least 5 minutes for the flour to absorb the liquid and for the baking powder in the mix to activate.
I used a one-tablespoon scoop to form the dumplings. Dipping it in water helps to keep each dumpling from from sticking to the metal.
As you can see, air pockets have formed in the batter.
Yes, yes, "the best stuff on earth" - backyard maple syrup made in micro-batches. Two cups of syrup and one cup of water are brought to a boil on the stove.
I used a 2-quart sauce-pot, but the dumplings were crowded, next time I'll use a low pan, and perhaps more syrup so they don't meld into one another.
Into the boiling syrup, drop the scoops of raw floating dumplings (all of them). Cover the pot and turn the heat to a low simmer.
About 15 minutes later, the dumplings are cooked through and the liquid thickened like some sort of really rustic custard. That's the best I can describe it. Test one to see if they are fluffy on the inside.
No finesse, just good eats.
It's too sweet for me. I had to cut it with whipped cream. The dark syrup had a cinnamon(y) flavor that went well with the dumpling.
Dan said that they were close to the original, but he recalls the dumplings should be more rubbery and simmered like a poached egg, not "scone(y)". He also put in a request for scrambled eggs poached in syrup, if I was going to keep working on the recipe because "that's what we had, growing up".
