Often associated in the collective imagination with grandma’s cake, the cream sugar recipe seems to be one that Quebec families pass down from generation to generation. However, it is difficult to trace with certainty the origin of this delicacy.
Could it go back to New France? Geneviève Sicotte, who co-edited the work Québécois Gastronomy and Heritage, has doubts. “The idea that we would have a sweet tooth from that point on, I’m not sure it’s valid. But then, with the British diet, so from the end of the 18th century, but especially in the 19th century, we see that sugar consumption will increase a lot. […] At that time, there is more sugar and certainly more desserts,” indicates the professor of French studies at Concordia University, for whom food is her favorite field.
In the archives of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationaux du Québec, the first mention of “sugar à la crème” found dates back to the 19th century. In the January 18, 1876 issue of the Courrier de Saint-Hyacinthe, the name of the delicacy appears on the menu of a banquet at which… frozen boar’s head was also served.
” Good news ! The time has arrived when we are going to eat sweets cheaply,” rejoiced, a few years later, the Sherbrooke confectioner W. R. Villeneuve, in the December 26, 1884 issue of the newspaper Le Progrès de l’Est. Among the sweets listed in this holiday ad, we notice cream sugar.
At the same time, a similar treat was booming in America: fudge. Could one have influenced the other? It’s possible, believes Geneviève Sicotte, who notes, however, that we very often find maple sugar in cream sugar recipes, a real local taste.
From yesterday to today, one thing remains however: cooking this delicacy requires a certain know-how, underlines the professor. “It’s technical candy. It’s not easy to do. In the recipes that we see appearing in books in the 20th century, we talk about cooking the sugar to the petit boule stage. You need to know what it is…”
“If you want real sugar cream with real cream, it’s complicated,” confirms chef Marie-Ève Langlois. I’m a pastry chef, and every time it stresses me out. I really need to concentrate. »
“We play with sugar which crystallizes and we also play with degrees, two complex elements,” explains the experienced pastry chef who has been offering caramels and other sweets since 2016 with her brand La Cuisine par Marie-Ève Langlois.
Her advice for dessert success? Follow the recipe “to the letter”.
The woman who opened the boutique L’Atelier Sucre par Marie-Ève Langlois last summer, in Saint-Mathieu-de-Beloeil near Highway 20, reinvented sugar cream, taking inspiration from a another holiday dessert: the gingerbread man.
To add a little texture, she added roasted pecans. “It gives a little crunch. »
How would she describe the result? “It tastes like Christmas,” sums up the one who promises to offer it in store for the holiday season, alongside logs, cakes and other sweet delights.
Preparation: 1 hourCooking: 20 minutesResting: between 3h45m and 4h45mYield: 16 to 20 pieces1
