Five Fabulous Fudge Flavours

About 3 weeks or so ago, my husband was helping out with his local 4x4 club charity open day. The club members were giving rides in their 4x4 vehicles round the local off road course to visitors who got to ride for a small donation. Donations were all given to Norfolk Air Ambulance.

In addition to this, they also had some stalls for raffles, face painting and other fundraising fete type things.

I made a load of bars of fudge he could take along and sell. Unfortunately, it ended up one of the hottest days of the year and the fudge had to be left in a coolbox for most of the time ! What was left, I took a couple of days later and dropped in to the local children's hospice.

Homemade fudge makes a lovely gift and can be easy and quick to make. I don't even use a sugar thermometer for this.

Normally, I make it in a square silicone fudge / brownie pan, cut it into 1" cubes and put it in pretty cello bags. This time, I decided to make it in 2lb silicone loaf moulds and cut it into bars instead. I simply wrapped these in clear cello and stuck on some tags. This made them easier to store in bulk in my fridge and easier to transport (as they take up much space). 

BASIC FUDGE RECIPE

125g salted butter

3/4 cup evaporated milk

2 cups sugar

12 marshmallows (or 9 if great big ones)

1 tsp vanilla extract

150g white chocolate (broken or chopped)

OPTIONAL 3/4 cup dry ingredients 

(broken biscuit, nuts, raisins, cherries, etc) 

Put the first 5 ingredients in a LARGE non stick pan and slowly bring to the boil. You will need to stir constantly.

As soon as it reaches a rolling boil, set a timer for exactly 5 minutes.

As soon as the 5 minutes are up, remove from the heat and quickly beat in the chocolate with a wooden spoon.

 Mix in dry ingredients if using.

Pour into the 2lb loaf mould or 8" square silicone fudge / brownie pan and leave to set. Once cold, cut into squares or bars and refrigerate. Keeps at least two weeks in the fridge.

Flavours.

This recipe is very versatile. White chocolate will give you a very light and creamy fudge. Dark/ bitter chocolate with give you an intense, dark fudge.

It's seductively soft and not at all grainy. Boil for an extra 1 > 2 minutes if you want a slightly grainy and crumbly fudge.

The flavour possibilities are endless.....

I made 5 different flavours for the charity event. These are ones I've made many times before...

Peanut butter - as basic recipe, but added 1/2 cup of peanut butter

Double vanilla - used vanilla extract and seeds of a vanilla pod, plus 50g extra white chocolate

Whisky - as basic recipe, but used 1/2 cup of evaporated milk and 1/4 cup of whisky

Cookies and Cream - basic recipe with a cup of broken oreos mixed in. Extra broken oreos for the top

Dark chocolate and mint (or orange) - basic recipe. Just swap chocolate and extracts

Walnut and Maple - as basic recipe, but 1/2 cup of evaporated milk, 1/4 cup maple syrup. Walnuts to add in and top.

Strawberry Shortcake - double layered (make two batches) Bottom layer was milk chocolate and shortbread. Top layer was basic recipe but strawberry extract and a touch of food colouring. Topped with mini marshmallows whilst still hot.

Sarah-Jane Nash - August 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com