The Hunt Begins for the Perfect Vanilla Fudge

Today is a momentous day, today was my first adventure into the crazy world of candy making :)

Well technically I will be posting this tomorrow once I get the chance to do a funky little photo shoot..so I suppose from your point of view, yesterday was a momentous day! This is messing with my mind a little though so I will carry on writing about it as today

I love candy. All candy. You know those old fashioned vintage style sweet shops with the walls covered in great big bell jars full of various brightly coloured sugary treats? well they are my heaven. There are a few characters in the candy world though that share a special little place in my heart (apologies to the others, you are lovely too in your own little way); sherbert lemons, flying saucers, bullseyes, apple 'n custard sweets, bon-bons, chocolate raisins, gobstoppers, sugared almonds...i could literally go on forever. But the one I reaaallllyyy idolise is fudge. Fuddgggeeee. mmmm. In particular sugary sweet creamy classic vanilla fudge

Check out my botch job candy thermometer stand, ingenious don'tya think :)

Just melted

The dangerous frothing milk fest that threatened to candycoat my hob

Before I overbeat and potentially caused the failure of my beloved fudge

Ive always wanted to try making it at home, and there are a few variations on the basic recipe out there - the main differences being the use of either condensed milk, milk, clotted/double cream, or a mixture of them. I wanted to try one that included cream as surely that could only help to achieve my creamy fudge dream, however a sniff of the funkkkyyyy double cream in the fridge (which I may or may not have replaced instead of throwing away..dont tell me you havnt done this!) decided for me, so the one I opted to try used just milk

My first foray into fudge making was fun but not flawless I can say that for sure! The milk mix bubbled up dannnggerrrously high, forcing me to swap pans quite early on, then the second pan proved even worse, so I swapped back - lesson of the day, get a bigger pan. And my candy thermometer has a silly short clip so wont attach properly, forcing me to invent a wobbly thermometer holding stand (which im quite proud of actually!)

Ive had a nibble of the final product already, what im impatient!, and it tastes pretty darn good if i say so myself :) although I fear the texture isnt what Im aiming for, I will toddle off now and continue this tomorrow once ive most likely scoffed myself silly on the stuff

Update time! It did indeed turn out veryvery crumbly texture wise, but Im pretty sure that was more my fault than the recipes. It tastes SOOOO so good though, im glad I upped the vanilla content from the original recipe, and a shocking amount has already consumed by me and my ma resulting in potentially illegal sugar highs. The purchase of this candy thermometer has unleashed an unstoppable monster I fear, I shall not rest until I have found the perfect creamy vanilla fudge of my dreams!

ps if any of you lovely people have a tried n tested recipe you think I should try PLEASE do share it! I will pay you in a lifetimes supply of fudge if it is 'the one' :)

Vanilla Fudge

Adapted from Good Food Channel

300ml milk

100g butter*

350g caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Line and/or grease an 18cm square tin (or smaller in my opinion, I used a slightly larger tin which I would not use in the future as it was thinner than I would prefer)

Place all ingredients except the vanilla into a large heavy-based saucepan and heat slowly, stirring constantly until the butter and sugar is melted

Bring to the boil and boil for 15-20 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 115C (soft-ball stage)

Remove immediately and stir in the vanilla extract

Leave to cool for 5 minutes then whisk/beat until it thickens and the glossy appearance disappears**

Pour into the prepared tin and leave to cool at room temperature

Once set, cut into desired pieces and store in an air-tight container

Notes

* I used majority unsalted but a bit of salted butter too as I ran out being the clever prepared person I am

** Firstly Im not sure if the cooling part is necessary, also I think I over beat mine and it became a bit too grainy so I more had to plonk and press into the pan, next time I would beat immediately and only until it started to get a little grainy

                       Printable