Wednesday 27 January 2010

Oh fudge!



Danielle has been asking for people to cook their favourite recipes for him, so I thought I'd share my recipe for chocolate fudge. It's simple and it's completely awesome - try this and your tastebuds will pass out with pleasure, I promise! And no, it's not low-carb...

Technically this is tablet (the Scottish variety) and not fudge, because the end result should be hard to the touch but have a melt-in-your mouth texture. I've also used it as a crispy fudge topping for a chocolate cake.

You need:
1lb sugar
half a pint milk
real full-fat butter
1 tablespoon cocoa powder (NOT drinking chocolate!)

  1. Butter a clean non-stick metal tray.
  2. Put sugar and milk in a deep pan - it's going to expand a lot as it cooks. Warm, stirrring with a wooden spoon, until the sugar has dissolved. 
  3. Add a knob of butter and the cocoa. Bring to the boil.
  4. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes. The mix will darken and the noise it makes will change - it will start to make a soft "blat blat" sound as the bubbles burst.
  5. It's ready when a small drop of the mix, tipped into a bowl of cold water, forms a firm cohesive ball instead of dissolving into the water.
  6. Take off the heat. Beat with the wooden spoon. This bit is hard work ... just keep beating.
  7. Eventually the mixture will start to feel "rough," or "gritty", as crystals start to form.
    Pour out onto the greased baking tray. Cut into squares before it cools.
  8. When cold, store in an airtight container.

(If you don't boil it long enough it will turn out softer, if you overheat it will turn to toffee. And if you don't pour it out as soon as you feel the roughness develop, it will set solid in the pan...)

Enjoy!

11 comments:

Jo said...

Agh, get thee behind me, chocolatey temptress!

I need FIVE fillings... :(

Danielle said...

@ janine

hehe...i love everything chocolate...and no fillings so i guess i m allowed..:-P

thank you a lot for that..i know you are busy most of the time and that makes it even sweeter..cant wait to try this recipe..funnyly i just bought real chocolate powder the other day because mini-santiago wants to make tiramesu on saturday so i can take some of that for the fudge..:-)

Janine Ashbless said...

Jo - 5 fillings? Ow!

I can certainly think of more fun ways to get jaw-ache!
;-)

Janine Ashbless said...

Danielle, this was one of the earliest recipes I ever used to make as a kid, so I hope you and Mini-Santiago have fun with it.

And looking on the positive side -I'm never tempted to BUY fudge, because I know it's not as good as the stuff I can make myself.
:-)

Jo said...

You're not wrong, Janine.

I love how it looks like you cool your fudge on the forest floor.


Danielle, no fillings at your age is just... beyond excellent. It's so annoying. Childbearing made all my teeth fall apart :(

Emerald said...

Oh, this looks so fricking good I hardly know what to do with myself. (Of course, you may be thinking I could get off my a** and make this lovely-looking fudge for which you so generously shared the recipe, but I really feel like I would rather just reach through the screen and grab some right now, ha.)

I didn't notice until Jo mentioned it, but I like the background behind the fudge too!

Janine Ashbless said...

Go on Emerald! Do it! Do it! You know you want to!

Beth said...

Oh Janine, that's the princess of fudges, that is!

Janine Ashbless said...

It worked, did it? Even with the vaugueness of "knob"?

Yay!

Beth said...

Yup! I thought to meself, the best kind of knob is a really big one! Also put a HUGE amount of chocolate in it and now can't stop myself eating it....

Janine Ashbless said...

"My work here is done."