This is my kind of Fudge Porn.
For as much as I rely on this fudge formula, it’s tried and tested and never fails me. I always retain the same elements in the recipe but just switch up what I put in it. I think the last version of this fudge I offered you was my Salted Chocolate Fudge recipe, which stills stands the test of time as one of the favourite sweet treats amongst my friends. This is that exact same fudge amped up by about fifty.
I wanted a nice contrast between salty, fruit and sweet. I can’t bear raisins in fudge, Rum & Raisin I think is my personal bug bear, but I figured that adding some chopped glace cherries would give the fudge a spiky sweetness but still add that syrup fruit element that I want to achieve. The salted peanuts is merely just my crunchy way of camping up the volume of the salt from my last fudge recipe.
I also want to mention here that the part when I add condensed milk is possibly my favourite moment of cooking any recipe ever. Watching that syrupy, treacly manila coloured goo ooze out of the can and slop into the chocolate and butter stays with me. Stirring all three ingredients together to create a thick cream is one of the most satisfying feelings.
Take a handful of salted peanuts (not too many) and throw into a sandwich bag and carefully bash the hell out of them but not too powerfully. You want a nice mix of peanut crumb as well as whole peanuts. Take a handful of glace cherries and chop them up finely. Leave to one side. Line a 20cm square baking tin with baking parchment and leave to one side. I line my tins so messily and lazily so I’m not even going to insult you with how I do it. But if you click the link above for the Salted Chocolate Fudge recipe you’ll see how I do it. Sloppy.
In a heavy based pan, add 30g of butter and 300g of dark chocolate. On a low heat, and with some repetitive stirring, melt this down until both have combined. Now pour in a whole can of condensed milk. Ooh that is my favourite part I mentioned earlier. Savour this moment.
Now toss in all of the glace cherries and ¾ of the nut shards. Mix to combine before slowly pouring into the prepared square tin. I only say slowly because it really is such a gorgeous sight to see the thick fudge mixture ooze out of the pan. Use a rubber spatula to scrape every morsel out. Use this spatula to spread the mixture out to fill all four corners of the pan.
While the mixture is cooling, scatter the remaining peanut shards over the surface of the fudge. Once the fudge has cooled slightly, I flatten the top even further by grabbing ANOTHER 20cm square pan, putting it inside the fudge pan and pushing down to really get a flat fudge surface. This part isn’t at all essential, but it is handy just to get that factory like flat surface.
MIKEY AND THE KITCHEN. 