I'm fudge obsessed

I didn't do a lot of candy making this year for Christmas.  I had just worked the most hours I've worked in 16 years and I was tired.  The elementary school has been using me as a substitute quite a bit lately, sometimes up to full time hours in a week.  I've been way too tired to actually make extra things.  

However, with the Christmas break being two full weeks and another four day weekend this weekend, I'm all rested up and I'm cooking all the candy I missed out on at Christmas.  This year I'm obsessed with new fudge flavors.  I can't help myself.  The eggnog was such a success, I had to try my hand at a few others I've been thinking about.   

These flavors are super easy to make, especially since I cheated on the maple nut.  I couldn't bring myself to buy real maple syrup for an experiment.  It's so expensive! And fudge is such a frivolous, non-necessary thing. I know, the artificial flavors aren't the same, but it was close enough for me.  

Maple Nut Fudge:

make vanilla fudge only omit the vanilla and add 2 t maple flavoring.  After the fudge is whipped, add 3/4 c walnuts.

See?  Super easy.  Like most fudge, this one tastes better if you can let it sit for at least 24 hours.  This allows the flavors to really blend and strengthen.

This one is my very favorite fudge ever.  I can not rave enough about it.  It was a little bite of heaven.

Orange Dreamsicle Fudge

Make vanilla fudge and this time reduce the vanilla to 1 t.  Add 1/4 t orange oil and the zest of one orange.  Also, you really need to let this one sit a day or so as well.  I have no idea if more than 24 hours makes a difference because, quite frankly, I was lucky this one lasted the full 24 hours.

I've got one more new flavor of fudge to make this afternoon and then I should be all fudged out for the year.

Maybe.

Well see.

Hopefully.  I have gained weight this month, sadly.  Those pounds tasted fantastic though.

Eggnog Fudge

I'm a little slow on this one, but I think you can still find Eggnog in stores for a little bit longer.  Run out and buy a quart so you can make this.  You'll thank me later.  Unless you are on a diet.  Then you will curse me.  Whatever.  Eat it.  You're welcome.

The method for cooking this candy is exactly like chocolate fudge, so if you want a step by step with photos try this post on making chocolate fudge.   The sugar measurement looks weird.  I had to adjust the sugar in the recipe because eggnog has sugar in it already.  Basically it's 3 c minus 2 T.   Remember that sweating the pan and not scraping the pan out after cooking are the two most important steps in making sure your fudge does not sugar.    Also make sure you use a clean spoon after the candy has sweat in the pot.  If you stirred before sweating the pan, wash the spoon carefully to be sure no sugar is sticking to the spoon. Do not ignore these steps.

Eggnog Fudge

3 T butter
1 1/2 c prepared eggnog (store bought works perfectly.)
1/4 c light corn syrup
1/4 t salt
2 3/4 c + 2 T sugar
2 t vanilla
1/8-1/4 t nutmeg (to taste)

Combine all except vanilla and nutmeg in a 4 quart pot. Put a lid on the pot and cook over medium heat until the candy comes to a rolling boil. Let it boil for 2-5 minutes with the lid on. Remove lid and add candy thermometer. Cook and stir until mixture reaches exactly 238 degrees. Pour out into bowl of stand mixer; do not scrape out the pan. Just pour out the candy that comes easily and leave the rest in the pan. Let the mixture sit at room temperature until it reaches about 110 degrees. Add vanilla and nutmeg. Beat with the mixer using the flat paddle on medium speed. When mixture begins to lose it's gloss, scrape out into buttered 8x8 baking pan. Let cool until firm. Cut and serve. Makes about 2 lbs.

If you can wait a week before eating this fudge, you'll be even happier.  This fudge really intensifies in flavor as it sits and "ripens."  The texture smooths out and you can really taste that wonderful eggnog flavor.   Have fun with this one.

Caramel Chocolate Popcorn

 Doesn't that look good?   It was.   Want some of your own?

Start with a great big bowl of popped popcorn, about 1 c kernels before popping.  We call this bowl "the popcorn bowl" because that's our favorite use for it. 

 Then you get to make the caramel.   Combine 3/4 c salted butter, with 2/3 c white sugar, 1/3 c brown sugar, and 1/3 c light corn syrup.  Cook over medium heat, stirring, until it starts to boil.

 Like this.   Let it boil for about 3 1/2  minutes. 

 Stir in 1t vanilla.  Then pour out over the popcorn.

 Stir it around.  Then spread the popcorn out over two large cookie sheets.

 Now you get to melt the chocolate.  I used milk chocolate and white chocolate chips because they drizzle so nicely, about 1 c of each melted in separate bowls of course.

 Melt in the microwave for one minute, stir, put it back for another minute, stir.  Repeat until the chips have all melted.  Then drizzle over the popcorn.

 Pretty yummy.    You can stir the popcorn a bit if you like or just leave it in the drizzled state.  

Sprinkle on about 3/4 c of roasted salted peanuts.   Let sit until the chocolate sets.   I put mine in the fridge because I couldn't wait.

This makes a great special treat for your family or even a valentine gift for friends and family.   Enjoy.

English Toffee

I adore Toffee.  It's the one candy I just can't stay out of no matter what.  Needless to say, I only make it at Christmas time.  

You might notice that this recipe has a lot of water in it.  Don't worry, your toffee won't have a lot of water in it when it's done.  The water all boils off before the candy finishes.   What the water does is lengthen the cooking time so the sugar has plenty of time to fully disolve.  That makes this candy very easy to make and it almost never sugars.   (By the way, this little trick works in any cooked candy recipe.  If you have one that sugars on you easily, add 1/2 to 1 c of water to the recipe and cook it as normal.  It will take quite a bit of the fiddly-ness out of the process.)

Toffee

2 1/2 c sugar
1/4 c light corn syrup
2 c butter
1 c water
 dash salt

 Combine all ingredients in a heavy bottom, 4 quart pan.  Stir it together with a wooden spoon just for a few seconds and then put the lid on.  Wash off your spoon.  Cook over medium heat with the lid on until the candy begins to boil and steam leaks out from under the lid.  Let boil for a few minutes with the lid on.  Remove the lid, clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan, and begin stirring.   Do not stop stirring until the candy is finished.  Stir always.  Stir lots.  Stir because if you don't this will scorch and the butter will seperate.  (If you are really concerned about scorching, turn the heat down to medium low.)   Cook until the candy reaches 300 degrees, hard crack.  This will take ages, so have a friend to talk to or a book you can read while you stir.  (yes, I read while cooking.  Doesn't everybody? No, I only ruin things every once in a great while and I never mess up my candy.)  

When the candy reaches 300, immediately pour out into a lightly buttered rimmed baking sheet (like this one).  Only pour out what comes easily out of the pan.  Do not scrape it out or you'll mess up your toffee.   You can scrape it out onto a separate buttered, heat proof plate, though.  That's totally legal and it cools off faster.  After you pour out the candy, you are going to have to smooth it out with a silicone spatula.  Gently push it around the pan until the candy is level and fills the whole pan.  Now spread a chopped Giant sized Hershey bar over the pan of candy (that's the 6.8 oz size).  Let it sit until the chocolate is soft and then spread it around with a spatula.   Now leave your candy alone until it's cooled off and the chocolate is set.    Then break apart into random sized pieces.


Enjoy!   Have a good time with this one.  And thank you very much for giving me an excuse to make that pan that's sitting on my kitchen counter right now.

Pumpkin Pie Fudge

An unassuming little fudge.  Pale orange if made with canned pumpkin, barely more orange than tan if made with fresh.   It has a mild pumpkin flavor with lovely spice notes.   Want to make some of your own?

If you haven't made fudge before you should start by reading this post on making chocolate fudge.   The process is the same no matter what kind of fudge you make. 

Pumpkin Pie Fudge

3 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
6 Tbs butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup light corn syrup*
3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp vanilla

*If you are someone who does not like HFCS, you should know that you leave out the corn syrup at your own risk.  Corn syrup play a very important part in the candy making process.  Without it your candy is more likely to "sugar," or become granular and crumbly.   If you must omit the corn syrup, try adding 1/2 c water to the candy to lengthen the cooking process.  I do not recommend leaving out the corn syrup, especially if you are new to candy making.

Start by putting everything except the vanilla in a four quart sauce pan.   Stir it together with a wooden spoon.  Cook over medium heat with the lid on.   While it's cooking, test your candy thermometer in a pan of boiling water.  If it reads anything other than 212 degrees when the water is boiling, you will have to adjust your cooking time to compensate.  Either add or subtract from the final temperature based on whether your thermometer is reading hot or cold.   Also, now is a good time to rinse off your wooden spoon.  Make sure you clean off any sugar crystals clinging to it.

When the candy begins to boil, it should start steaming out the side of the lid.  Leave the lid on for another 3 minutes or so after that begins to happen.  This is called sweating the pan.  It washes down any sugar crystals that may have been clinging to the side of the pot so all the sugar cooks to the same temperature and none are left to spoil your candy.

After sweating the pan, remove the lid and stir a few times with your clean wooden spoon.  Add the thermometer now.  It is not necessary to stir continuously,  just ever few minutes or so to be sure the candy isn't scorching.  Cook over medium heat until the candy reaches 238 degrees on the thermometer.

Immediately pour out into the bowl of a stand mixer.  Just pour out what comes easily out of the pan.  Do not scrape the pan out with either the spoon or a rubber spatula.  To do so could cause your candy to "sugar."  By the way, if you do not own a stand mixer, leave the candy in the pan you cooked it in.  Let the candy cool for about an hour or so.

When the temperature of the candy has reached between 110 and 120 degrees it's time to whip it.  If beating by hand, start it at 120 if you can.  The warmer temperature will make it easier to beat.  Get lots of friends to help you stir.  You need to stir with a firm hand until the candy thickens and loses it's gloss.  With a stand mixer you will want to beat on medium speed until candy loses it's gloss.  It will have the consistency of frosting.  With the pumpkin pie fudge, you will need to stop and scrape down the candy every few minutes.  It will look a little different from the other fudges because of the extra butter.  Beat it a little past the frosting like stage until the candy has a smooth consistency and the butter is fully incorporated into it.

Scrape it out of the mixer bowl and press down into either a buttered 9x9 pan or a buttered loaf pan.  I use a loaf pan because the pan shape gives me cubes of fudge and it works best for the boxes I use for gifts.  This recipe makes two pounds of fudge.

Good luck with your candy, and be sure to leave a comment telling me how you candy came out or to ask questions.

Candy As Gifts

You've probably noticed that I make quite a bit of candy this time of year. I like to give hand made gifts because they aren't something that anyone can just buy somewhere. Also, my hand made gifts tend to save me money during a time of year when money needs to stretch as far as it can go.

When giving candy it's important to make sure that the candy is properly packaged. It's easy to find cute containers to put them in, but the candy should always be wrapped in something else before it's put in the cute container. If properly packaged, candy can last for weeks, unlike cookies and bread which must be eaten right away and prepared right before they are gifted.

All candies do best when put in air tight containers. Soft candies should always be stored separately from hard candies. Otherwise the moisture from the soft candies will migrate into the hard candies. Your soft candies will dry out and your hard candies will soften. Neither is palatable.

Caramels need to be individually hand wrapped in candy foils or waxed paper. Those can be put in your packaging as is or you can put them in a zippered top plastic bag before packaging. Fudge should be gifted as a block and not cut into individual pieces. Air dries fudge quickly, so wrap it either in several layers of plastic wrap or in a zippered baggie with all the air squeezed out. You want the plastic touching the fudge all the way around. I prefer baggies because it makes it easier for the recipient to keep the fudge air free while they get into the packaging.

Hard candies can be placed in plastic baggies as well, of course. Disposable/reusable plastic food storage containers make great containers for hard candies, too. The lids are tight fitting and easy to get into and seal up again. It also allows the candy some breathing space in their packaging. If you are going to put the hard candies in a paper or other non-air tight container for gift giving, like a take out box, do put it in a baggie first.

Remember that candy is very rich and dense. While you would give a large plate of cookies as a gift, hand made candy can be given in much smaller amounts. A pound of fudge may not look like much, it's a generous amount to give as a gift. The recipe I have for chocolate fudge and my other fudge recipes make about 2lbs of candy. That's enough for two gifts.

For labels, I love printable labels I download off the internet. Just Google printable gift tags. They are all over the place. You can also check out One Pretty Thing and Tip Junkie Printables for collections of tags to print. Just print, cut out, personalize, and attach to your cute container with a ribbon. Done and ready to gift.

Good luck with your gift giving. I'm working on some batches of fudge myself today. My husband asked for gifts for his coworkers and our local librarians need some fudge as well. I love giving candy and it's always well received.

Peanut Butter Fudge

It's candy making time! My favorite part of Christmas is the candy making. I remember helping my mother make candy as a child. I remember her teaching me all the little tricks to get the candy to turn out perfectly and my sisters and my mom and I standing around visiting while the candy cooked, taking turns stirring the toffee, because it's a long process and has to be stirred continuously, listening for the mixer to down shift, signaling that the fudge is finished, getting to be the first one to try a piece.

Love it. Candy making is as much in my blood as potatoes and my religion. (I'm a fifth generation Idahoan and my Grandfather was a potato farmer in Eastern Idaho, just in case you were wondering how inbred religion and potatoes could be.)

If you would like to see pictures of the fudge making process, read this post on making chocolate fudge.


Peanut Butter Fudge

3c sugar
1/4c light corn syrup
1/2 t salt
1/2 c milk*
1 c heavy cream
1/2 c peanut butter
2 t vanilla

In a 4 quart heavy bottomed pan, stir together everything but the peanut butter and vanilla. Put a lid on the pan and turn on the burner to medium heat. Let it cook with the lid on until the candy has boiled for 3-5 minutes. This is called sweating the pan and is very important. Meanwhile while the pan is sweating, rinse off that spoon you stirred your candy with earlier. You need a clean wooden spoon with no sugar crystals clinging to it to stir the candy once it boils.

After the candy has boiled with the lid on for 3-5 minutes, remove the lid and clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. Stir occasionally until the candy reaches 238 degrees. Watch carefully because you do not want to over cook the candy. If you have a stand mixer, immediately pour out the cooked candy into the bowl of your stand mixer. Only pour out the candy that will pour easily out of the pan. Do not scrape the pan. I'll say it again. DO NOT get out your spatula and carefully get out all the last little drops of candy. Don't. You'll cause your fudge to crystallize. It won't be creamy. Just pour it out and stop when you get only a small, thin stream of candy.

If you do not have a stand mixer, leave it in the pan.

When the candy has cooled to about 120-110 degrees you can start whipping it. Add the peanut butter and the vanilla and beat it with the flat beater. If you have a Kitchen Aid, speed 6 is just about right.

If you don't have a mixer you will have to beat it by hand. Stir with a wooden spoon using a strong, firm hand. You will want to have friends around to take turns with you and start beating when it's about 120 so it's softer when you start.

You beat until the mixture loses that glossy look. It will turn matte and if you are mixing in a mixer it will look like frosting in the bowl.

When it's done beating, scrape out the bowl into a buttered 9x9 baking dish. Pat it flat and cover with plastic wrap. make sure the plastic covers the surface of the fudge. Eat when it's cool.


*The recipe base (vanilla fudge) came from my grandmother who was a depression era lady. The milk was supposed to make the cream go farther. You can make this with all cream if you like. I do the part milk, part cream because I can get four batches of fudge from one quart of cream that way. I make a lot of fudge as gifts and it's nice to have the cream go farther. It comes out just fine with a lovely creamy mouth feel even with the milk in it.

Vanilla Fudge and all it's wonderful variations

If you are unfamiliar with candy making, or just want a refresher course, you might want to read the post on Chocolate Fudge.

the ingredients:

3 T butter
3 c sugar
1 1/2 C cream
1/4 c corn syrup
and a dash of salt
2 t vanilla

1. Add everything but the vanilla to a 4 quart heavy bottom pan. Cook while stirring over medium heat until the mix comes to a rolling boil. Place a lid on the pan for about 3 minutes to sweat the sides of the pan.

2. Remove the lid, place a candy thermometer in the pot, and continue to cook until the mix reaches 238 degrees.

3. Carefully pour the syrup out into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Only pour out what comes easily from the pot. Do not scrape out the pot! Let sit until it cools 110 degrees. (warm but not hot to the touch.)

4. Add the vanillla. Whip the fudge with the flat beater until the fudge looses it's gloss. If desired, add 3/4 c chopped nuts. Scrape fudge out into a buttered 8x8 baking dish and let sit until cool.


I adore vanilla fudge. It's been a favorite of mine since I was a little girl, so there's the nostalgia factor. There's also the fact that vanilla fudge is the perfect base for half a dozen different flavors of fudge. Make plain vanilla the first time, but after that have a little fun. Try one of these versions:

maple nut fudge: reduce vanilla to 1tsp. Add 2 tsp maple flavoring (I like Mapline, it's sold next to the vanilla) with the vanilla. Mix in 3/4 cup walnuts.

Opera Fudge: omit nuts. Mix in 1/2 c chopped maraschino cherries instead.

Pumpkin Fudge (yes! Pumpkin!): reduce cream to 1 cup. add 1/2 c pumpkin puree and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice. Proceed as usual.

Penuche (brown sugar fudge): use brown sugar instead of white sugar in the vanilla fudge recipe.

Peppermint fudge: reduce vanilla to 1 tsp. Add 1/2 tsp mint extract with the vanilla and stir in 1/2 c chopped candy canes. (after chopping the candy canes, place the candy in a sieve and shake to remove candy dust. You just want the larger pieces.) Eat within a couple of days. The candy canes will soften over time.

Experiment. We live in a world with so many wonderful flavors and cooking ingredients, it's almost criminal to not play around with them. My next few fudge flavors take more complex changes to the recipe so I'm still perfecting those. Watch for butterscotch, coconut, and peanut butter in the coming months.

Chocolate Fudge-Step by Step

I am a fudge fanatic. I grew up helping my mother make old fashioned whipped fudge every Chirstmas. I can't hardly even stand the other shortcut not really quite fudge confections, you know, the fantasy fudge and the condensed milk fudge, and the melt this and that and call it fudge fudge. The flavor and texture are all wrong.

True fudge is a dying art so I have to share my family recipe every chance I get. Since it's chocolate that greases the wheels of society, I thought I'd start with the chocolate:


The cast of characters:
3 T butter
3 c sugar
1 1/2 C cream
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 T cocoa
2 t vanilla
1/4 c corn syrup
and a dash of salt
Put them all in a 4 quart pot over medium heat. Don't try and squeeze this into a smaller pan; it will boil over and make a huge mess all over your stove. Ask me how I know this.

Pretty soon it will all melt together and look pretty and smooth. Then it will start to boil. When it comes to a rolling boil, that is a boil that you can not stir down, put a snug fitting lid on your pot. Leave the lid on for 3-5 minutes. The lid will capture the steam rising off the candy syrup and wash down the sides of the pot. This is what they call in the candy making business "sweating the pan." It's very, very important. Do not skip the step unless you like fudge with sugar crystals in it instead of perfectly lovely smooth fudge. While you are sweating the pan, rinse your spoon off in the sink. You want to get off any sugar crystals that may be clinging to it. Don't skip this either.

After a few minutes of sweating the pan, take the lid off and begin stirring again. You will also want to put a candy thermometer in the pot at this time. Don't let these intimidate you. It's just a thermometer and we use them because candy follows some very basic laws of chemistry. It changes texture at specific temperatures so if you cook it to the same temperature you get the same results every time. The thermometer lets us measure this temperature exactly so we can get consistent results even without having made a hundred pots of candy.

Cook the syrup to 238 degrees Fahrenheit. This is soft ball stage for those of you who are familiar with the candy stages. When it reaches temp, immediately pull the pot from the stove and pour out the syrup into the bowl from a stand mixer. Only pour out what comes easily; do not scrape out the pot with either the spoon or a spatula. I'm serious. Stop. Leave it there. Your pot should look like this:
See all that candy left in the pot? Let the kids eat it or something. This stuff is the most likely part of the syrup to contain sugar crystals or be cooked to a different temp than the rest of the batch. If either is the case, adding these dregs to the rest of the candy will ruin it.

So then your mixing bowl looks like this:
See how the syrup is thick and starting to form a thick skin on top, clinging to the bowl and all that? Now you add 2 t vanilla. Put the bowl on your mixer and walk away. You're going to let it sit for about an hour or so. You want the syrup to be about 110 degrees. You can use a clean thermometer, but I just test it by holding my hand to the side of the bowl. When it's no longer too hot to rest my hand on the outside of the bowl, it's ready to beat.

Using your mixer beat it on medium speed with the flat beater. If you are using a Kitchen Aid, speed 6 is just right. About five minutes in it will look like this:
See how it's still dark and glossy? It's starting to thicken, but it's still not done.

This is done:

Notice how it's lost its gloss? It has almost a frosting like consistency at this point. The color has also lightened to a nice milk chocolate. Keep in mind, however, that when you stop the mixer some of the gloss will come back. It should look like this when it's done:

Still a bit glossy and definitely gloopy, but not runny. If you like nuts, now would be a good time to stir in 3/4 of a cup of walnuts or pecans.

Scrape the fudge out into a 8x8x2 baking pan that has been coated with either butter or butter flavored cooking spray. Pat the top smooth. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and push the wrap down so it completely touches the surface of the fudge. Then you have to let it cool. I like to put mine in the fridge because it firms up pretty quickly that way and I can eat it sooner.

When it's firm, cut it and serve. Or sneak it behind everybody's back and tell them it's not ready yet. I won't tell.
Doesn't that look good? The fun part about fudge is there are so many different flavors, all of which can be made with slight changes to this basic recipe. How many flavors? So far I've come up with eight. I'll post those later.

Chocolate Fudge

3 T butter
3 c sugar
1 1/2 C cream
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 T cocoa
1/4 c corn syrup
and a dash of salt
2 t vanilla
3/4 c pecans or walnuts

Combine all except vanilla and nuts in a 4 quart pot. Put a lid on the pot and cook over medium heat until the candy comes to a rolling boil. Let it boil for 2-5 minutes with the lid on. Remove lid and add candy thermometer. Cook and stir until mixture reaches exactly 238 degrees. Pour out into bowl of stand mixer; do not scrape out the pan. Just pour out the candy that comes easily and leave the rest in the pan. Let the mixture sit at room temperature until it reaches about 110 degrees. Add vanilla. Beat with the mixer using the flat paddle on medium speed. When mixture begins to lose it's gloss add nuts, then scrape out into buttered 8x8 baking pan. Let cool until firm. Cut and serve. Makes about 2 lbs.