Maple Cream (Maple butter)

This one ingredient maple cream will blow you away ~ imagine a creamy, whipped maple syrup that you can spread like butter on everything from toast and biscuits to pancakes, waffles, and French toast!

Maple cream is spreadable maple syrup

Maple cream, sometimes called maple butter, is essentially spreadable maple syrup. You heat pure maple syrup to a precise temperature, cool it, then beat it until it turns pale, thick, and creamy. The flavor is pure concentrated maple.

Nothing else is added, (except a touch of butter to prevent the syrup from boiling over in the pan) and it has a creamy almost peanut butter like texture. The flavor is intense maple… sweet, but not cloying. I love maple and this is a revelation for me. I can spread it on scones, biscuits, toast, pancakes. It can be used as an icing for cake. I even spooned it into my coffee.

How to make maple cream

1. Put 2 cups pure maple syrup and 1/4 teaspoon butter in a medium, high-sided saucepan.
2. Have an ice bath ready before you start. A sink or large bowl filled with ice and a little water works well.
3. Heat the syrup over medium heat without stirring until it reaches exactly 235°F. This takes about 10 minutes. Watch closely as it approaches temperature ~ going much higher can push it toward maple candy.
4. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and set it into the ice bath. Let the syrup cool undisturbed to about 100°F.
5. Remove the pan from the ice bath and start stirring briskly with a wooden spoon. You don’t need to beat it furiously, but keep the stirring steady and continuous.
6. Keep stirring until the syrup begins to lighten in color, lose its glossy look, and thicken into a creamy, spreadable consistency. This can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes.
7. As soon as it reaches a thick, smooth, peanut-butter-like consistency, transfer it to a jar before it firms up further.
8. Refrigerate the maple cream for storage.

Temperature is everything with maple cream

This is one of those recipes where your thermometer really matters. A few degrees can mean the difference between smooth, creamy maple butter and maple candy. Before you start, check your thermometer in boiling water ~ it should read 212°F at sea level. I use a digital instant-read thermometer because I find it easier to read accurately.

Give your thermometer a test

Start by testing your thermometer in boiling water ~ it should read 212°F at sea level. I use an instant-read digital thermometer because I find it easier to read accurately than the clip-on kind, and accuracy really matters here.

Common maple cream issues and answers

A few things came up again and again with readers making this recipe, so here are the big ones:

• Stop stirring when the maple cream turns pale, loses its gloss, and becomes thick but still spreadable. It can stiffen quickly if you keep going.
• Stir by hand rather than using a mixer. The texture changes fast, and hand stirring gives you better control.
• The tiny bit of butter is there to keep the syrup from foaming up too much as it boils, not for flavor.
• If you live at higher altitude, your boiling point will be lower than 212°F, so your target temperature may need to come down too.
• Two cups of maple syrup will give you roughly one cup of maple cream.

Maple cream is basically made for anything warm and bready. Spread it on my homemade English muffins or a hot biscuit. I love it with vanilla scones, or a thick slice of toasted white bread.

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Maple Cream (Maple Butter)

3.33 from 217 votes

One-ingredient maple cream turns pure maple syrup into a thick, creamy spread for toast, biscuits, pancakes, waffles, and more.

Print Recipe Rate Recipe

Prep Time:30 minutes minutes

Total Time:30 minutes minutes

Servings: 16

Equipment

• a clip on candy thermometer

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

• 2 cups grade A maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp butter

Instructions

• Put the syrup and the butter in a medium, high sided saucepan. Clip a reliable candy thermometer on the side of the pan, or have a digital thermometer ready.
• Prepare a bowl of ice to cool down the pan later. I just put some ice in my sink with a little water.
• Heat the syrup over medium heat until it reaches 235F. This will take in the range of 10 minutes. Do not stir, just let it boil. Be careful to catch the mixture just as it hits 235F. If you let it heat much higher you will wind up with maple candy.
• When the syrup has reached 235F, take it off the heat and set it in the ice or ice water to cool to about 100F. This doesn’t take long, so be alert.
• Once the syrup has cooled, remove the pan from the ice and take a wooden spoon and start stirring.. You don’t have to stir furiously, just stir briskly as if you were making cookie batter or something. Just keep steadily stirring the thick syrup and eventually it will start to lighten in color, and then it will magically thicken into a spreadable consistency, like peanut butter. This can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, so don’t get discouraged. Switch arms, pass it off to another stirrer, but keep at it. When the mixture has thickened, immediately pour it into a jar.
• Store maple cream in the refrigerator. It will firm up when chilled, so let it sit at room temperature briefly before spreading.
• Makes 1 cup.

Notes

Note: This recipe is adapted from Massachusetts Maple Producers Association

NOTES ~ Click here to add your own private notes.

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Author: Sue Moran

Keyword: breakfast, fall, maple

Nutrition

Serving: 1 Tbsp · Calories: 109 kcal · Carbohydrates: 27 g · Protein: 0.001 g · Fat: 0.1 g · Saturated Fat: 0.04 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.003 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 0.02 g · Trans Fat: 0.003 g · Cholesterol: 0.2 mg · Sodium: 4 mg · Potassium: 91 mg · Sugar: 24 g · Vitamin A: 2 IU · Calcium: 44 mg · Iron: 0.04 mg

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.

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