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Dessert

Maple Nut Candy

A sweet candy made from sugar, maple syrup, cream, and nuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Maple Nut Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy

  1. Boil the sugar, maple syrup, and cream until a soft ball forms when a little syrup is dropped in cold water.

  2. Remove from heat and beat for two to three minutes, adding the nuts as you beat.

Shape and set

  1. Drop spoonfuls onto paraffin paper in little rounds.

  2. Allow to cool; they will lift easily from the paper.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Sugar + maple syruptop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,252 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Cream + maple syruptop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together607 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Cream + meattop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,248 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Maple syrup + meattop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together51 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Forms the sweet base that sets firm as the syrup cools.
Maple syrup
Adds maple flavor and sweetness, and helps keep the candy soft.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, giving the candy a smoother, creamier texture.
Nut meats
Add crunch and texture to the candy as it is beaten.

The step that matters

Boiling to the soft ball stage. The syrup must reach the right temperature to set into soft candy. Too little cooking leaves it runny, and too much makes it hard and grainy once cooled.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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