Maple Syrup Snow

This maple syrup snow lets you embrace your latent Little House on the Prairie fantasies with a quaint, toffee-like candy made by drizzling maple syrup onto fresh snow. Its provenance may be outdated, but its appeal transcends time.

A bucket of maple syrup in the snow with streaks of maple syrup snow nearby

Maple syrup snow is a charming old-fashioned candy that’s sorta akin to homemade caramel. And it’s gooey and sweet enough to get excited each time it snows. It’s also a compelling reason to always keep a stash of maple syrup and butter on hand. –Renee Schettler Rossi

Where Did Maple Syrup Snow Originate?

We’ve no idea when exactly the tradition of maple syrup snow began. But we do that know author Diane Henry first read about it in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods, which is in the Little House on the Prairie series. As Henry explains, Native Americans used to watch for the “sugar moon,” the first sign that the sap was running and that it was time to tap the trees, in February. [Editor’s Note: We don’t know what a “sugar moon” is, either. But we find it unspeakably comforting to know that there’s such a thing watching over us. Something for you to ponder as you snitch some maple syrup snow.]

☞ Contents

Maple Syrup Snow

A bucket of maple syrup in the snow with streaks of maple syrup snow nearby
This maple syrup snow lets you embrace your latent Little House on the Prairie fantasies with a quaint, toffee-like candy made by drizzling maple syrup onto fresh snow. Its provenance may be outdated, but its appeal transcends time.

Prep 35 minutes
Cook 10 minutes
Total 45 minutes
Dessert
New England
40 servings
67 kcal
5 / 2 votes
Print RecipeBuy the Roast Figs Sugar Snow cookbook

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Equipment

Ingredients 

  • 2 1/2 cups maple syrup
  • 5 tablespoons (2 1/2 oz) unsalted butter
  • Fresh snow you’ve collected in a large bowl

Directions
 

  • In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the maple syrup and butter until it registers 235°F (113°C) on a candy thermometer, about 25 minutes or so. It's going to be tempting to walk into another part of the house. Don't. Keep a careful watch on it and if at any point the mixture threatens to boil over, reduce the temperature under the pan.
  • When the syrup reaches the desired temperature, remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool slightly.
  • Spoon 1 tablespoon maple syrup mixture on some of the snow in the bowl. If the syrup sits on top of the snow and sets into a weblike caramel, it's ready. If it doesn't, return the pan to medium heat for a few minutes and then try again. Drizzle blobs of the syrup mixture on the snow in whatever pattern or neo art creation you fancy. As soon as the maple syrup snow candy is cool enough to pick up with your fingers, indulge.
Print RecipeBuy the Roast Figs Sugar Snow cookbook

Want it? Click it.

Show Nutrition

Serving: 1tablespoonCalories: 67kcal (3%)Carbohydrates: 14g (5%)Protein: 0.01gFat: 1g (2%)Saturated Fat: 1g (6%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.4gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 4mg (1%)Sodium: 2mgPotassium: 46mg (1%)Sugar: 12g (13%)Vitamin A: 44IU (1%)Calcium: 22mg (2%)Iron: 0.02mg

#leitesculinaria on Instagram If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We’d love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Recipe Testers’ Reviews

This maple syrup snow candy was so yummy! The maple mixture creates a gooey caramel or toffee on top of snow. It makes quite a bit, so I called my neighbors to bring over a bowl of snow and it was so cute, they sent their 9 year old over with this big mixing bowl full of snow, so I just poured it on. (I wish you could have seen the neighbor boy with his boots and gloves on and this big bowl of snow. Very cute!)

They all loved it and described it as “a really good caramel.” The mom and dad finished their dessert off with a glass of Bailey’s. I jarred the leftovers, which will make a great caramel ice cream topping when the snow is gone–or maybe I’ll drizzle some over the whipped cream on my latte.

Originally published February 02, 2021

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Comments

  1. We gather and boil sap every March in a place on the Vermont line. I grew up with sugar on snow but have to tell you when you’re in the midst of sugar season it’d just not that appealing. We pack pans with snow when it’s clean and deep earlier in the winter, put them in the freezer and take them out in July. Now there’s a treat.

  2. Every year, at the end of the ski season, there is a ski race held here in Stowe. It is when all the kids who’ve been slugging away, trying to be ski racers, all get together for one last race of the year, mostly just for the fun of it. Kids who are no longer kids but on the U.S. Ski Team come home. College racers take a break. Some of the coaches and a few nitwit locals set up grills back in the woods and eat venison and drink bourbon, straight from the bottle. It is a grand day and a fine tradition. At the bottom of the hill, usually near the finsih line, wooden tables or trays are hammered together, set up and covered with snow, then doused with local Maple syrup. The name of this race??? The Sugar Slalom

  3. I have been trying to think (for years!) what it was that my Mom made for us in the snow one time when I was a kid. I knew it was candy, but could not remember exactly what it was. This was it! It has to be. She took us all outside with her pan full of “something”. She found a fresh patch of deep, packed snow and drizzled it on and she let us eat it. It was so much fun and such a treat for my Mom to do something so out of the ordinary with us. She was very conservative about letting us have sweet treats. Four kids and all that sugar? She knew! Gosh…I’m so glad you featured this!

  4. The first full moon during the sap running season is called the Maple Moon or the Sugar Moon. The Old Farmer’s Almanac calls the month of March the Full Sap Moon, while February has the Full Hunger Moon.

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