Oh Canada! We love your natural beauty, your nanaimo bars, poutine and butter tarts. But perhaps what we love most about you (in the culinary sense) is your maple syrup. It is 100% derived from nature and “healthier” than refined white sugar (except when you eat it in large quantities like we sometimes do). It’s melt-in-your-mouth delicious and sugar-sweet, certainly, but with that unmistakable maple flavour. Use it as you would regular sugar 1:1 in recipes to give an earthy, woodsy depth (like our maple caramel budino) – or like us, enjoy some of it stirred into coffee or right from the spoon whenever you have a late-night sugar craving.
NOTE: While this recipe calls for the use of a stand mixer, you can use a wooden spoon instead by mixing the hot maple syrup vigorously in a large bowl. Moderate strength required if you go this route.
Makes 2 cups
2 cups maple syrup, preferably light or amber
- Bring your stand mixer near to the stove (you’ll be transferring boiling hot liquid syrup to it, so make sure it’s safely nearby) and fit it with the whisk attachment
- In a large fairly high-sided saucepan, pour in the maple syrup and heat it over medium-high heat. The syrup will begin to bubble and rise as it increases in temperature, but do not stir unless it gets dangerously close to bubbling over the sides. Continue to heat until a candy thermometer ready 257°F to 262°F (this will take approximately 20 minutes)
- Being extremely careful, but also acting fairly quickly, remove from heat and pour the hot syrup into the bowl of a stand mixer and start to beat immediately.
- The syrup will begin to crystallize quickly as it cools and form into granules of maple sugar.
- Sift maple sugar and store in mason jar or other airtight container
