It all started in February 2009, when I attended the Maple Syrup Festival in Parke County, IN. At the time, my level of interest in maple syrup was about the same as most people: marginally enthusiastic during traditional breakfast hours.  As I browsed the booths of maple related items, I came to a display hosted by a sweet, elderly woman with kind eyes. On her table was a little bottle labeled Maple Cream.  Hmmmm … maple cream? I chatted with the vendor briefly about her wares and was easily persuaded to purchase the intriguing condiment.

Well, that little jar of maple cream was kind of a gateway drug which led me to discover the amazing versatility and complexity of maple syrup. In honor of the amazing condiment that rocked my world, I give you my very first entry:

Maple Cream with Maldon Sea Salt on a Toasted Homemade English Muffin

Maple Cream:

To make the maple cream, we will basically take a stable sugar solution (maple syrup; preferably late-season grade B, which has more invert sugar) make it unstable by heating it to the point of super-saturation and then carefully control the resulting crystallization to achieve a smooth cream with just the right amount of tooth.

Step one: Read all the instructions before you begin.

Ingredients:
2 cups grade B maple syrup
1 Tbs unsalted butter

Tools:
Candy thermometer
A tall-ish, 3-quart-ish sauce pan
A metal bowl large enough to serve as an ice bath for the tall-ish, 3-quart-ish sauce pan

1) Prepare the ice bath by filling the bowl with water to a depth of about an inch and then add lots of ice.

2) Melt the butter in the sauce pan on low heat.

3) Once the butter is melted, add the syrup to the pot and clip the candy thermometer into place.

4) Turn the heat up to medium high and let the syrup boil, undisturbed, until it reaches 225° F.

5) When the syrup reaches 225° F, immediately, but gently, avoiding any agitation of the heated syrup, set the pot into the ice bath.  The ice may melt, so add more to the bath as necessary.

6) Let the syrup cool in the ice bath, undisturbed, to around 180° F, then remove the thermometer from the pan.

This is where the process becomes a bit of a workout.

7) With a wooden spoon, begin to stir the thickened syrup. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of pan to incorporate all the syrup. Keep stirring until the mixture lightens in color, becomes opaque and looses its sheen. If you wait for it to become completely dull and opaque, it will be too late; you’ll have maple fudge.

Take note: you may be stirring this stubborn mixture for a period of time that seems just short of 1000 years. For that reason, you might be tempted to use a mixer, but I do not recommend it. Once the sugar crystals begin to latch onto each other, it is only a matter of seconds between spreadable maple cream and a crumbly fudge-like mess. A mixer doesn’t give you enough time to judge crystal formation before it’s too late. It’s hard work, but mixing by hand is the way to go, here.

Also, inevitably (it seriously happens to me every time), you will get to a point when you start to think you’ve done something wrong, because you’ve been stirring this mixture FOREVER and nothing has changed and you’re starting to get a little sick of the whole thing and your hand hurts . HANG IN THERE! Keep stirring! The mixture WILL come together.

8 ) Once the mixture has lightened and become a little dull and opaque, quickly pour the (TA DAH!!) maple cream (!!) into the cutesy food-grade glass container of your choice. It will continue to crystallize for a little while longer in the jar.

Another note: Depending on a seemingly countless number of factors, when you pour the cream into a container, you may find that the cream seems to get unacceptably thick as you finish pouring. Do not fret, you did not ruin it. Let the jar sit for a couple of hours and then come back and dig down into the cream and stir thoroughly. The result will be perfect maple cream with a consistency similar to peanut butter.

Homemade English Muffins

Leela, over at SheSimmers.com wrote an excellent post about english muffins with wonderful (and easy!) instructions based on a recipe from Alton Brown.

Yes, you can just buy english muffins. And truthfully, the maple cream will still sing, but if you want an over-the-top explosion of tastes and textures, take the time to make these muffins. You won’t be sorry.

Putting it all together:
Toast the english muffin and generously spread with softened unsalted butter. While the muffin is still warm, spread the maple cream liberally onto the muffin.

What about the salt?
I’ve always found maple cream to be a little too sweet by itself, so I started sprinkling salt on top of the maple cream to finish it off. “Why not just add salt to the maple cream, itself”, you ask? Well, when salt is mixed into the cream, oddly, it flattens out the taste. When the salt is sprinkled on top, being able to clearly distinguish salt from sweet, somehow, both just seem … more.

I’m a big fan of Maldon sea salt because the flaky crystals add an ever-so-slight tooth when sprinkled on top of the maple cream.