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baking, cook, Culinary, food network, food network magazine, Guelph, laughter, love of food, maple, maple syrup, recipes, sucre a creme, syrup, traditional quebec

My kitchen was quickly filled with laughter as I pondered what has just happened.  I ask myself, although I am fully aware of the answer, how could such a simple recipe go so wrong so quickly. My immediate thoughts after that was whether I should write about it since I am more than likely going to bring this treat to work tomorrow.  The catch; at least one of those fortunate coworkers is one of my close friends who will be reading about it shortly after posting this…LOL.

Well, if you can’t laugh and learn from your mistakes then you’re not really living it up!

So here goes my story.

It all started late last month when I received my April issue of the “Food Network Magazine.  This event scores high points in my books as this little culinary collection of this-and-that keeps me occupied for a good week or so. To be honest, it’s one of few magazines I bother to re-read and then proceed to rip apart to save my favorite stories, recipes, and gadgets ideas.

And there it was, on page 168, a recipe for maple candy ~ and it only asked for one ingredient… beautiful pure maple syrup. As you’re sure to guess I had no problem getting my hands on scrumptious Canadian pure maple syrup this time of year.  The picture showed beautiful tiny squares of what resembled whipped syrup (my French mates might want to compare it to sucre à crème).  I bet your taste buds just budged a little; did they?  How easy could this be – one ingredient recipe!  Easy enough for anyone to make?  Well, perhaps, especially if you’re not too hung up on what the end results look like. 😉

Here’s a picture of what mine looked like when I was done. The picture is a tad blurry because I had a major case of the giggles by then…

Your eyes are not tricking you ~ those are NOT squares… LOL!!!!

I continued my own private comedy show by testing the product as any cook would. I closed my eyes so not to see these brittle little pieces of what had once been dark strong beautiful syrup. But WOW the taste was exactly where it should be. I will proceed with my plan to bring these to work tomorrow so my critics can really tell me what they think. I will keep on trying this recipe until I conquer it!! Trust me for that. 🙂

If you would like to try it, please do so ~ if nothing else you’ll have fun doing it.

MAPLE CANDY (supposed to make about 24 small pieces)

2 cups pure maple syrup

1. Line the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5 in loaf pan with parchment paper brushed with vegetable oil.  Bring the syrup to a boil in a large saucepan over medium heat, then reduce the heat to medium low. Dip the back of the spoon in vegetable oil and run it over the top of the foam to help it subside. Increase the heat to medium and continue cooking until a candy thermometer registers 246 degrees, 25 to 30 minutes. Pour the syrup into a heat-proof bowl and let cool 5 minutes.

2.  Beat the syrup with a mixer on medium-lowspeed until it starts to lighten in color and turns opaque, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Pour into the prepared pan and spread with an offset spatula; let cool completely, about one hour. Lift out of the pan and cut into pieces.

ENJOY!