Enfield Shaker Hot Maple Sauce Recipe

Add very little water to a pound of maple sugar and boil it until it reaches the “thread” stage. Add 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup of English walnut meats broken into small pieces. There should be sufficient nuts to make the sauce quite thick. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream or very slightly sweetened blancmange or custard. Makes about 2 cups.

We suggest using maple syrup because it is generally easier to find than maple sugar.

Boil the maple syrup in a saucepan with a heavy bottom until the syrup reaches 225°–230° Fahrenheit (just under the soft ball stage).

Remove from heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the cream, salt and nuts mixing in gently.

YIELDS A LITTLE OVER 1 CUP. Store in a heat-safe jar.

Kitchen-Tester’s Note: Delicious served warm on vanilla ice cream.

*Life is always better when you use maple syrup harvested and bottled in New Hampshire!

**To make the syrup without a candy thermometer, place a bowl of very cold water next to the stove and test with droplets of hot syrup in the cold water. It is ready when it forms thin threads, about 9 minutes.

This recipe first appeared in The Best of Shaker Cooking, edited by Amy Bess Miller and Persis Fuller (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. 1970), based on Shaker manuscript recipes, 19th century Shaker almanacs, and The Manifesto, the Shakers’ own publication. The Best of Shaker Cooking is still in print and available from Amazon or the Enfield Shaker Museum gift shop.