Fudge ... no, I mean the dessert
In my teens I used to attend the local corn festival with a girlfriend and we always used to buy small samples of the fudges at the food stalls. Over the years, it's been harder and harder to find good fudge to buy.
About a month ago, I tried a recipe which suggested using an electric hand mixer to beat the fudge to help it cool and set. I ended up ruining my mixer as the beaters are no longer in alignment with each other. But, I didn't give up and just made my second batch of a very tasty fudge. It's a slight variation of a basic vanilla fudge recipe that can be adapted to different flavours with some extract, colouring and other additions. It's very fattening however so only eat a very small piece ... or 4. :)
Vanilla fudge - makes 1 pound
300ml Milk ( ~ 1 1/4 cup)
350g granulated sugar ( 1 1/2 cups)
100g unsalted Butter ( 1/2 cup)
1 tsp vanilla extract
unsalted butter for pan
Butter a 8"x8" square glass pan. Put the milk, sugar and butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Heat slowly, stirring all the time, until the sugar has dissolved and the butter melted.
Bring to the boil and boil for 20-25 minutes, stirring all the time.
When the mixture reaches the soft-ball stage (115°C/239°F on a sugar thermometer), remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Leave to cool for 5 minutes. You may want to transfer the contents to a large bowl to help speed up the cooling process.
Beat the mixture with a wooden spoon for a few minutes until it starts to thicken and the gloss disappears. (You can put the bowl into a larger bowl with cold water with a few ice cubes in it to hasten the process even more.) Pour into a prepared pan and leave to set at room temperature (do not put it in the fridge). Once set, cut the fudge into small squares and store in a sealed container.
Chocolate variation: Melt or finely chop a 1-2 oz square of semi-sweet chocolate. Add to vanilla fudge above after you've removed the pan from the heat. Or put finely chopped chocolate into the 2nd bowl before adding the fudge for cooling.
Nut variation: After cooling the fudge for 5 minutes, stir in the nuts of your choice (1/2-1 cup) and begin beating.
For other additions, add at the same time as you would add your nuts. Some examples include chopped or mini marshmallows, chopped well drained maraschino cherries, or dried fruit like cherries, cranberries, candied peel or ginger for a bit of spice, chopped cookies like Oreos or custard creams.
REMEMBER - LESS IS MORE with add-ins. Don't add too many or you'll end up with a mess.
Varied extracts/Food coloring: Add mint, almond, orange, rum etc instead of vanilla. You can also add a few drops of food colouring to the mixture after cooling and before starting to beat your fudge. Separate the hot fudge into 2 containers if you want to make a marbled version, about 2/3 into the main flavour and 1/3 for the swirl.
About a month ago, I tried a recipe which suggested using an electric hand mixer to beat the fudge to help it cool and set. I ended up ruining my mixer as the beaters are no longer in alignment with each other. But, I didn't give up and just made my second batch of a very tasty fudge. It's a slight variation of a basic vanilla fudge recipe that can be adapted to different flavours with some extract, colouring and other additions. It's very fattening however so only eat a very small piece ... or 4. :)
Vanilla fudge - makes 1 pound
300ml Milk ( ~ 1 1/4 cup)
350g granulated sugar ( 1 1/2 cups)
100g unsalted Butter ( 1/2 cup)
1 tsp vanilla extract
unsalted butter for pan
Butter a 8"x8" square glass pan. Put the milk, sugar and butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Heat slowly, stirring all the time, until the sugar has dissolved and the butter melted.
Bring to the boil and boil for 20-25 minutes, stirring all the time.
When the mixture reaches the soft-ball stage (115°C/239°F on a sugar thermometer), remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Leave to cool for 5 minutes. You may want to transfer the contents to a large bowl to help speed up the cooling process.
Beat the mixture with a wooden spoon for a few minutes until it starts to thicken and the gloss disappears. (You can put the bowl into a larger bowl with cold water with a few ice cubes in it to hasten the process even more.) Pour into a prepared pan and leave to set at room temperature (do not put it in the fridge). Once set, cut the fudge into small squares and store in a sealed container.
Chocolate variation: Melt or finely chop a 1-2 oz square of semi-sweet chocolate. Add to vanilla fudge above after you've removed the pan from the heat. Or put finely chopped chocolate into the 2nd bowl before adding the fudge for cooling.
Nut variation: After cooling the fudge for 5 minutes, stir in the nuts of your choice (1/2-1 cup) and begin beating.
For other additions, add at the same time as you would add your nuts. Some examples include chopped or mini marshmallows, chopped well drained maraschino cherries, or dried fruit like cherries, cranberries, candied peel or ginger for a bit of spice, chopped cookies like Oreos or custard creams.
REMEMBER - LESS IS MORE with add-ins. Don't add too many or you'll end up with a mess.
Varied extracts/Food coloring: Add mint, almond, orange, rum etc instead of vanilla. You can also add a few drops of food colouring to the mixture after cooling and before starting to beat your fudge. Separate the hot fudge into 2 containers if you want to make a marbled version, about 2/3 into the main flavour and 1/3 for the swirl.