I thought I'd pimp the recipe a bit and give my fudge a festive twist with the addition of dark chocolate and dried cranberries. A good idea, if I say so myself. The chocolate helped to balance out the sweetness of the fudge and the chewy berries added some textural interest. While we're talking Christmas, a pretty plate piled high with homemade fudge, would make a lovely (not to mention super easy) edible gift. Or eat it all yourself - as I'll be doing.
300ml single cream
350g caster sugar
100g butter
1tsp vanilla extract
50g of dark chocolate (you could add more if you wanted a very chocolatey fudge - see step 3 below)
A handful of dried cranberries
METHOD:
- Put the cream, sugar and butter into a large pan and heat gently, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
- Turn up the heat and boil for 15 - 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until the fudge reaches 115'C. If, like me, you don't have a sugar thermometer, then don't worry, you can check to the see that the fudge has reached soft ball stage by dropping a teaspoon of the mixture into cold water - it should form a soft ball.
- Remove from the heat, add the vanilla extract and about a third of the chocolate. For a really chocolately fudge, add up to 100g of dark chocolate at this point. With a wooden spoon, beat for about 5 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken and lose its shine.
- Pour into a baking try lined with greaseproof paper.
- Add the rest of your chocolate to a heatproof bowl and sit over a pan of barely simmering water until it starts to melt. Remove from the heat and artfully drizzle the chocolate over the fudge. Sprinkle with a small handful of dried cranberries.
- Allow the fudge to cool completely (not in the fridge), before cutting into squares. And devouring it all.