Maple Cream
2 pounds brown sugar ½ pound almonds (blanched and cut in pieces) ½ pint sweet cream.
Boil sugar and cream together until it forms a firm ball when dropped in a little cold water. Add nuts, beat until cold or firm enough to spread on buttered tins.
A soft-ball fudge in everything but name — despite the title there is no maple in it, the brown sugar and cream standing in for maple sugar. The recipe hangs entirely on the sugar stage and on when you start beating.
- The hinge: cook to 244–248°FThe hinge: cook to firm ball -- "Firm ball when dropped in cold water" is generally given as about 245–250°F on a thermometer. Much under that and the candy stays soft and sticky; much over it and you get a hard, sandy candy rather than a spreadable one.
- Sweet cream, half a pint"Sweet" means fresh and unsoured, as opposed to soured or cultured cream. In a Canadian book the half-pint is likely the imperial one, about 10 fl oz (1¼ US cups), rather than 1 cup; use heavy or whipping cream, not half-and-half.
- Cool before beatingBeating a hot syrup throws large crystals and a grainy texture. Let it fall to about 110°F — warm to the hand but no longer steaming — then beat until it loses its gloss and thickens.
- Blanching almondsPour boiling water over shelled almonds, stand two minutes, drain, and the skins slip off between finger and thumb. Dry them well before chopping or they will weep into the candy.
- Buttered tinsThe recipe names no size; a shallow rimmed pan, buttered generously, is what is wanted. Score into squares while the surface is still soft; once fully set it is apt to crack rather than cut.
- YieldUpwards of two and a half pounds of candy, the number of squares depending on the pan and how deep you spread it.
- Weather mattersSugar candies of this type take up moisture from the air. On a humid day cook to the upper end of the range, and store the finished squares airtight between sheets of waxed paper.
The Five Roses Cook Book was issued by the Lake of the Woods Milling Company of Montreal as promotion for its flour, and it drew on recipes contributed by home cooks across Canada — which is why a candy chapter sits beside the bread. The same general formula appears in American books as penuche or brown-sugar fudge, the molasses left in brown sugar giving a caramel note not far from maple.