Mom McQueen's Basic Cream Fondant

Desserts 7 ingredients 8 steps

Instructions

Combine cream, sugar, and syrup in heavy saucepan.
Cook to the soft ball stage, washing the sides of the pan down often with a pastry brush dipped in water (this prevents the sugar from crystallizing).
Pour on a marble slab to cool.
At this time, add butter, vanilla (or other flavoring), and salt to melt into the fondant while it is cooling.
Beat the fondant until it loses its gloss.
Add nuts now if desired.
Knead candy until fairly cool.
Roll into nickel-sized balls if dipping.

Notes & Tips

Washing the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water prevents the sugar from crystallizing.
Variation — Fondant with Grated Orange Rind: Finely grate the rind of 1 1/2 to 2 medium oranges onto a slab or platter just before making the fondant.
Do not grate into the bitter white of the orange.
Cook fondant and pour it over the grated orange rind, or add grated rind to the fondant just before beating it.
Variation — Fondant with Caramelized Sugar: Melt 3/4 of the sugar in the recipe in a hot frying pan and caramelize it until it is a medium brown; do not heat it past this point (when it is dark brown and smoking — in other words, burnt).
When sugar is a medium brown, immediately add 1/2 cup of boiling water; stir over low heat until the caramelized sugar is dissolved.
Add this syrup to the other ingredients in the fondant, and proceed as the recipe directs.
Variation — Fondant with Artificial Fruit Flavors or Fruit Extracts: When using artificial fruit flavors such as pineapple, orange, lemon, etc., add citric acid for tartness.
Dissolve 1/2 tsp. of citric acid in 1 tsp. of water; add about 1/2 tsp. of this while creaming (beating) the batch of fondant.
Citric acid is available as Fruit Fresh, etc., usually found in the canning section of the supermarket.
Variation — Fondant with Candied Cherries: Substitute 1 tsp. of almond flavoring for the 1 tsp. of vanilla in the basic recipe.
Add candied cherries, not maraschino cherries.
Put 1 cherry in the middle of each ball that you roll for your candy centers.
Variation — Fondant with Toasted Almond: Toast 1-2 cups of coconut by spreading it out evenly in a sheet pan (jelly roll pan), etc.
Preheat the oven to 250-300°, and put the pan of coconut on the center rack.
Stir frequently to prevent uneven browning, and toast until coconut is golden (not brown).
Add coconut just before kneading the fondant.