Fabulous festive fudge

All is quiet on the baking front at the moment, and is likely to remain so for a little while as I think most people are still working through their Christmas cake, chocs etc.. etc ..  So I thought I would share with you my festive Baileys fudge - I had never made any until approx. two weeks ago, but I made 4 batches before Christmas to give as treats to various colleagues, friends and family. It really is incredibly easy, and everyone seemed to love it as several people have already asked me for the recipe!

Baileys Christmas Fudge

Based on Nestle Ultimate Fudge recipe on their website, + tips from The Pink Whisk - How To Make Fudge.

Makes approx 64 squares.

Ingredients:
450g demerara sugar
1 can (397g) Carnation condensed milk
115g butter
150ml milk
Baileys (optional - I used approx 60ml but that is up to your discretion!)

Equipment:
Large saucepan (minimum 20cm)
Lakeland thermospatula or sugar thermomenter
20cm loose-bottomed square cake tin (link is to the one I bought one from Lakeland especially for this purpose)

Method:
1. Lob all of the ingredients apart from the Baileys into a LARGE pan (any smaller than 20cm and it will boil over); give an initial stir so no dry sugar remains on the bottom of the pan, then heat on a low heat stirring constantly until all the ingredients have dissolved. Stirring is the most important bit - if the sugar burns it will add dark flecks to the fudge.

2. Turn up the heat and stir continuouslyuntil the mixture has boiled and then continue until either

• if you have a thermometer it reaches 116°C, OR
• if you don't, a teaspoon full of mixture dropped into cold water forms a ball which you can handle and doesn't fall apart ("soft ball stage").

This should take 10-15 minutes of continuous stirring, and will bubble well to the top of a large pan.

3. If adding ingredients such as vanilla extract, raisins or nuts etc. do it at the end of step 2. I added approx. 60ml of Baileys, but added it halfway through step 2 as i was worried it would affect the consistency if added later.
4. Remove pan from the heat and leave to cool for a moment, then pour into a large heatproof bowl. beat for 5-10 minutes until thickened to a soft fudge consistency.
5. Have a 20cm square cake tin ready, lined with baking parchment. ladle the mixture into the tin, smooth the top with a spatula and leave to cool at room temperature (not in the fridge) for a couple of hours.

6. Cut up and enjoy :-) 

Observations:

It is really critical to have a big enough pan - I used a 20cm saucepan (the largest I own) and could not have made any bigger quantity than the recipe states - hence I ended up making 4 batches!!

I had never needed a thermometer before, and treated myself to a thermospatula from Lakeland ... this was just soooo easy to use!!

 

My only comment would be that my hand did get quite hot holding the spatula in such a way as to not obscure the readout panel; so for later batches I did use a one handed oven mitt.

The original recipe stated that after boiling to 116°C the mixture should be beaten for 10 minutes - I found that 5 minutes was enough, and longer would have broken my hand mixer!! Also if it is beaten for too long it turns out crumbly ... great if that is your preference but I really wanted creamy fudge - 5-6 minutes of beating will achieve that.

I made my fudge into festive treat bags - 1 batch will make etiher 4 medium treat bags of approx 15-16 pieces each, or 3 larger treat bags of 20-21 pieces each (depending on how much you sample while bagging it up!!)

That's all for today ... hope you enjoy it.

Hugs,