Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups Pure Maple Syrup

Heat the Maple Syrup to 235F

Pour the maple syrup into a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Using a taller pot is a good idea, as the syrup will bubble up significantly as it heats.

Place a candy thermometer in the pot and heat the syrup over medium heat. Do not stir it.

The syrup will come to a boil and hold at around 212F for a while; this is normal as the water content boils off. Once the water has evaporated, the temperature will begin to rise more quickly.

Watch the thermometer closely and pull the pot off the heat as soon as it reaches 235F. Being precise here is important; if it gets too hot, you’ll end up with maple candy instead of cream.

Cool the Syrup, Then Stir

Immediately pour the hot syrup into a stainless steel or other heatproof bowl. Place this bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice and water to create an ice bath. This rapid cooling helps control the size of the sugar crystals that form.

Let the syrup cool, undisturbed, until it reaches about 80F. It’s best to leave the thermometer in the syrup so you don’t have to agitate it by reinserting it.

Once cooled, remove the bowl from the ice bath and begin stirring with a wooden spoon. The mixture will be thick and taffy-like. Stir slowly and steadily. This part of the process can take ~20-30 minutes.

As you continue to stir, you’ll notice the color lightening from a dark amber to a pale, creamy tan. It will also become thicker and harder to stir.

The maple cream is ready when it loses its glossy sheen and takes on a matte, peanut butter-like appearance. This change happens quickly.

As soon as you see this change, immediately transfer the cream to a jar for storage. It will firm up fast, so you only have a brief window where it’s still pourable.

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Maple Cream (Maple Butter)

This is a single-ingredient recipe for a spreadable maple condiment. It’s made by heating pure maple syrup to a specific temperature, cooling it, and then stirring it to encourage crystallization. The final product has a consistency similar to peanut butter but tastes like concentrated maple syrup.

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Cooling + Stirring Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 1/2 cups Pure Maple Syrup

Instructions

• Pour maple syrup into a tall, heavy-bottomed saucepan.
• Insert candy thermometer and heat over medium heat without stirring.
• Heat until temperature reaches exactly 235F.
• Pour hot syrup into a heatproof bowl.
• Place bowl in ice bath and cool undisturbed to 80F.
• Remove from ice bath and stir continuously with wooden spoon until mixture becomes pale tan and loses its gloss.
• Immediately transfer to storage jar before mixture sets.

Notes

Watch temperature carefully – overheating will result in candy instead of cream. Mixture will thicken quickly at the end, so have storage container ready.