Vanilla Fudge with Walnuts

I love fudge, it is one of those sweets that I just can’t resist. There is something about the sweet taste and the crumbly texture that makes me want to eat it. I have never tried to make it before. To me it always seemed to be an arcane art that required mystic incantations and sugar thermometers. Recently I have seen a number of other bloggers making fudge and very successfully as well.  It seemed like an omen, I needed to try it for myself. I decided to make a vanilla fudge and add some walnuts that I had in the cupboard.

Making the fudge is actually quite easy, the ingredients are just boiled in a pan. The only hard part is knowing when it has reached 116C, which is soft ball stage. I wasn’t aware that boiled sugar goes though different stages at different temperatures, depending what you are making. The soft ball stage is when can drop the sugar syrup into cold water and it will form a soft, flexible ball. The ball becomes a pancake after a few moments when removed from the water. A mere 5 degrees later and you get the firm ball stage, used for caramel. You need to keep an eye on the mixture. Luckily I now have a sugar thermometer so I was able to use both methods to test it.

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What I found very interesting was the way the mixture turns from sugar into a brown bubbling mixture, almost like a witches brew.

When left to cool at the later stages it forms fudge underneath little by little. I was very pleased with my first attempt at fudge and will try it again. My son also loved it and I have to admit that there was not much left for me to eat once he found it.

Vanilla Fudge with Walnuts

Alison

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Ingredients

  

• 350 g light soft brown sugar
• 400 g granulated sugar
• 250 ml milk
• 75 g butter
• 1½ tsp vanilla essence
• 75 g chopped walnuts

Instructions

 

• Grease a square tin.
• Add the milk and sugar to a pan and slowly bring to the boil, stirring all the time.
• Boil steadily till it reaches 116C or soft ball stage.
• Remove from the heat and add the butter and vanilla essence.
• Leave to cool until luke warm and then stir briskly until it thickens. Add the nuts and stir through.
• Pour into the tin and leave to cool. Once it is cool cut it into squares.

It has left me more confident about boiled sugar recipes and I may even try some marmalade next. Please be careful when boiling sugar though as I once burnt myself on some and it is really nasty.

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