Maple Walnut Fudge

Last Thursday night Wendy took a stab at using up some of our syrup that we had on hand.  Wen found a recipe online at the Maple Trader forums that only had three ingredients.  How simple is that!

The recipe called for:

• 2 cups of Super Awesome Little Creek Maple Farm  maple syrup.
• 1 cup of Heavy Cream
• 1 cup of Chopped Walnuts

To make the fudge:

• Combine the  syrup and the cream in a sauce pan and heat to 235F.
• Remove from the stove and pour into a large bowl.
• Cool for 5 minutes.
• Stir in the chopped walnuts.
• Keep stirring until fudge holds it’s shape, approximately 5 minutes.
• Pour into parchment lined 8” x 8” pan.
• Refrigerate for 1-2hours to set fudge.
• Remove from fridge and enjoy with friends!

The Process:

Make sure you have some de-foamer or some butter on hand to kill any boil over.  The cream syrup mixture foams easily and the butter or de-foamer will kill the boil over and prevent a sticky situation…

Make sure you have a candy thermometer on hand so you can easily see your progress.  The syrup and cream mixture has the appearance of caramel.

Lots of pot watching as the temperature climbs over the boiling point and continues to reduce.  As boring as it may be, it is extremely important to keep an eye on the boiling mixture so you can add a drop of de-foamer or a drop of butter to prevent a boil over.

Wen made sure to prep all of her pans and utensils ahead of time.  An extra pan was prepped just in case the fudge mixture was more than an 8” x 8” pan.  Luckily the entire batch of Maple Fudge fit nicely into the single 8” x 8” pan.

233.6F almost go time!  You will notice that the bubbles become smaller as you get closer to your target temperature of 235F.

The Maple Fudge mixture resting for 5 minutes in the stainless steel bowl before mixing in the chopped walnuts.

Once the walnuts were added the mixture is stirred for a good 5-10 minutes until the Maple Fudge mixture begins to hold its shape as you stir.  When the fudge reaches this point add it to the 8” x 8” pan and you have o spatula it in and smooth it out similar to what you would do for a pan of brownies.

After cooling in the fridge for an hour or so  to help speed up the “setting process” the Maple Fudge was ready to be cut.   When the fudge is ready to be cut it will be less shiny when it was put into the 8” x 8” pan.  The fudge was cut with a super sharp knife and a thin metal spatula was needed to help lift the fudge off the parchment and to keep it from denting the individual pieces of Maple Fudge.

A little bit of Maple Walnut Heaven!