Fudge – one of the most gloriously decadent treats that rarely passes my lips and thus the perfect Christmas treat. Furthermore it looks great cut into simple chunks and wrapped in celophane. And there is nothing I like more than something that looks extravagant with little precision or delicacy.

So it was decided fudge would make the perfect addition to a few peoples present stash this year.

Last year I attempted fudge – a little bit after I melted my thermometer ( if you missed that nightmare you can catch up here). Suffice to say it was not a success – it didn’t set. So I approached this challenge with the same trepidation one feels when you go to retake a test you failed. Like your second driving test. And before you accuse me of blowing this out of proportion – I am not, it is that daunting – I take my confectionary very seriously!)

I won’t leave you in the dark. This time I cracked it – as if you couldn’t guess from the above picture.

As we don’t have many days till the big event I will give you the recipe so you can crack on.

I have embellished with my notes to ensure you feel the warm hug of reassurement that you need when braving fudge without a thermometer.

Right: brace yourselves, here we go…

Ingredients

410g Evaporated milk

500g Caster sugar

150g Butter

2tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Line an 18×18 inch cake tin with foil and place to one side
2. In a large pan (use the biggest pan you have got – Fudge can be voluminous) pour in the evaporated milk, caster sugar and butter
3. Place on a low heat and stir until all the sugar and butter is combined
4. Once combined bring to the boil and continue to boil for 20 mins – stir all the time ( you don’t want it to catch and burn)
5. The mixture should thicken and a darker golden colour. When it reaches 115 degrees it is ready to go. If you don’t have a thermometer (good for you – you brave person) then get a glass of cold water and drop a small amount of mixture ( just a drop will do) into the glass – if you can rub it between your fingers and form some sort of soft ball (anything that is solid rather than liquid really) then you are good to go
6. Next boil for another 5 mins stirring all the time
7. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 5 mins
8. Next beat with a spoon until the mixture looses its gloss and becomes a bit gritty ( this took me about 4/5mins)
9. Then add the vanilla extract and stir
10. Spoon mixture into prepared tin and leave to cool
11. After about 20mins cut into squares and leave to cool further
12. Once the mixture has cooled completely you can break off the squares and wrap!

Simple. What was I worrying about? I hope you enjoy making this and even more eating it!

If you want more food ideas why not check out Christmas From Scratch here

Next up, Christmas Bark – even easier, and just as cool!