Fudge

Today is fudge making day. I only make this at Christmas time as it takes continual stirring and it drives me mad but the end result is always worth it. I use Rachel Allen's recipe which is 1 tin of condensed milk, 450g caster sugar and 100g of sugar. Mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to the boil. To make vanilla fudge, add 1tsp of vanilla essence at this point. Stir continually for about 10 minutes until the mixture reaches the soft boil stage. You can test this by dropping half a teaspoon of the mixture into a glass of cold water. If it forms a boil but is still malleable, then it is time to take it off the heat. This is what it should look like.

Once off the heat, keep stirring as the mixture cools down. To cool it down more quickly, you can put the saucepan into a bowl of cold water as you stir. Keep stirring until the mixture becomes more granular. Pour into a tray and leave it to set.

I made double the mixture for this amount. I then made a chocolate version. Once the fudge reaches the soft ball stage, take off he heat and add 150g - 200g of chopped dark chocolate. I used the value chocolate which you can find in any of the major supermarkets. Looks and tastes great. Now I just need to package it up for presents.