ShareThisMaple Sugar Candy
If you stop into any country store in Vermont, especially this time of year, you're bound to find shelves lined with maple leaf-shaped candies. Made from pure maple syrup boiled down and poured into molds, these sweet little gems are worth bringing home. But given miles between home and the American maple belt, you can just as well craft them in your kitchen.
Similar to the process for Sugar On Snow, making maple candy is a simple act of heating pure maple syrup to the right temperature, then allowing it to cool down and take shape. While I'd much rather be bathed in the aroma of a sugar shack deep in the Vermont woods, I'll settle for the sweet smell of boiling maple syrup at home. And after that, my own little piece of New England, savored with a hot cup of tea.
Maple Candy
Makes 20 candies
2 cups grade B pure maple syrup
Maple Leaf Rubber Mold
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, simmer maple syrup until it reaches 243°F on a candy thermometer. Once 243°F is achieved, remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool about 5-7 minutes, stirring. Carefully pour the syrup into the molds. Allow the syrup to harden in the molds. Once they are completely formed, pop them out of the molds.
