Who ever would have thought that making fudge would be so easy! I found this recipe on BBC Good Food for Baileys and white chocolate fudge a while ago, and as I know that my mum and sister both love Baileys, white chocolate AND fudge, this was a no brainer. But I’d never made fudge before! What if I burnt the pan and it all went wrong? Plus it looks really difficult and time consuming. The good news? It’s not!
My recipe, slightly different from the BBC Good Food site, is below with added tips! It takes about 30 minutes to make and you have to be present for almost all of them! Having said that, it’s such an amazing process that it goes really quickly.
Ingredients (makes about 30-40 pieces depending on how big they are)
500g granulated sugar
400ml whipping cream
150ml Baileys
150g decent white chocolate
Method
Butter and line a 22cm x 22cm tin or roasting tray with grease proof paper, leaving a small overhang around the sides. Put sugar, cream and Baileys in a large pan and, stirring slowly, bring it to a simmer. Make sure the sugar is dissolved (it will stop feeling grainy on the base of the pan), then turn the heat up to a rolling boil.
Quite quickly the mixture will bubble and expand and it could boil over if you are not watching it at this stage!
Cooking the fudge – keep watching and stirring! (1) Sugar, cream and Baileys goes into the pan. (2) Watch it doesn’t boil over! (3) The bubbling dies down once its almost done.
Adjust the heat until the mixture bubbles without getting too near the top of the pan. Keep bubbling, stirring occasionally, until a small amount of mixture dropped into a glass of very cold water will form a soft ball that you can pick up on the end of a teaspoon.
At this stage, the mixture will have become very thick and the bubbles will have changed from being large and unruly to smaller and more even.
Turn the heat right down and give it a really good hard stir as you drop in the chocolate pieces. Once the chocolate has melted, pour the mixture quickly into the tin.
Whilst the mixture is still soft, use the greaseproof paper to shape and smooth the fudge, if you need to. I tore off a piece of greaseproof paper and laid it on top of the fudge, then rubbed the back of a large metal spoon over it to smooth the top of mine.
I scored the top to make cutting it easier later. Cool and cut (I used a rotary pizza cutter!)
The fudge produced is a real ‘melt in the mouth’ type fudge, its obviously very sweet but delicious!
NOTE: You can buy a sugar thermometer to make it easier to judge when the fudge is done. They cost £6 or £7 but I didn’t know where to get one from so I just observed the changes in the mixture and guessed. I made this fudge twice and it came out perfectly both times. That’s how easy it is.
Tomorrow I’ll show you how I packaged the fudge to make gifts for my family.
!!!!!! I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that boiling sgar and cream is very hot. Be careful of spills and spits and if you have kids or animals, mind them too. Kids will love licking the spoon after you’ve finished though!
