The Great Maple Bar Hunt of 2008

It's hard to believe it's been 8 months since I've moved to the Dirty South, but it certainly has. It's funny, but every once in awhile we get homesick for certain things. I think it's all about the simple things you take for granted, and don't realize how much you would miss them if they were gone. Recently, this very scenario played out with Maple Bars. I forget how the conversation came about, but somehow we were discussing our favorite donuts with people out here. Both G and I have very fond memories of weekend donut runs as kids, taken one step further for me as an adult by VooDoo Doughnuts Bacon Maple Bar (www.voodoodoughnuts.com). With such great memories surrounding the maple bar, we had to include these at the top of our list....and the confused look on the southerner's faces brought a shiver to my spine.

They don't have maple bars in the south! That's crazy, surely they do.

This revelation led to some reseach. Lo and behold, Wikipedia said it all:
"A maple bar is a rectangular pastry with maple glaze on top. It is a regional term from the Pacific Northwest, specifically Oregon and Washington. Elsewhere it is known as a maple-glazed Long John.

Within the Pacific Northwest maple bars are among the most popular and common pastries."

So they really don't have maple bars in the south...uh oh.

I was not ready to throw in the towel just yet. Hence the Great Maple Bar Hunt of 2008 was born. We rallied the troops...calling all of the friends we have met out here and put them on a mission- find me a maple bar! Using the VWVortex (forums.vwvortex.com) as a means for discussion and tracking the hunt was quickly on. Since we were discussing this on a public forum, more and more people became intrigued and the hunt rapidly expanded. Numerous calls were met with very curious responses, but no one had maple bars. Finally after about 20 different bakeries/donut shops were hit...we had a lead. While in a grocery store, one of my friends Chris found maple-glazed donuts and chocolate-covered creme filled bars. He did the math, and since they had the maple icing and could make bars...they had to be able to create a maple bar.

It took some arm twisting, but eventually Chris was able to order 3 dozen "Maple glazed unfilled bars" and the feast was planned. I cooked up about 2 pounds of bacon for those daring enough to try the fabled "Bacon Maple Bar". We had around 15 people in attendance, and the southerners agreed- they were missing out on the deliciousness that is a maple bar.

The crazy thing is, I'm not that big of a donut person. I think it's more the fact that someone said I couldn't get one that made me want it all the more. Like I said, funny the things you would never miss until they are gone.