Happy Fudging Christmas! Dark Chocolate Orange, White Chocolate Spearmint & Milk Chocolate Raisin Walnut Fudge
Well, shit. Once again it's that time of year where I manage to ignore my wife's requests to go Christmas shopping past the point of no return, leaving me with about two days to pull something together that resembles a well-thought-out and loving present. Life as a chef is not the most accommodating for catching up on Christmas shopping. Every time I find a moment to myself, the last thing I want to think about is Oxford Street. So I am going to procrastinate the shit out of this Christmas and after 355 days of hard contemplation, I'm just going to make fudge. Loads and loads of fudge.
Before I get into the recipes, I came across an excellent piece of useless history about fudge that I thought was worth including. Fudge was apparently accidentally created in Virginia, USA, by a toffee maker's apprentice. A demonstration went wrong and the mixture was pulled off the heat at the wrong temperature, and the toffee maker coined the phrase "to fudge something up" from that point on. We have a very similar saying at Farang when things go sideways in the kitchen, but I'll save that anecdote for another time.
Three fudges. Dark chocolate and blood orange, because reducing the juice concentrates the flavour properly and gives you real orange in the fudge rather than a vague citrus suggestion. White chocolate, spearmint and hazelnut, because white chocolate doesn't set as firm as dark or milk and you need to account for that with more chocolate or it won't hold its shape. And milk chocolate, raisin and walnut, which is the simplest of the three and the one everyone reliably eats first.
The technique is the same across all three. You need a sugar thermometer. This is not optional. Fudge depends entirely on cooking the sugar to exactly 118°C, which is what confectioners call the soft ball stage: the point at which the sugar will set firm enough to hold but still melt on the tongue. Below 118°C and the fudge stays soft and won't set. Above 120°C and it starts heading towards toffee, which is a different thing entirely and not what you want. Get a thermometer, use it, don't try to guess by feel.
These make good presents. Wrap them in parchment and tie with string. Three seems like slightly less of a shit effort than one.
Dark Chocolate & Blood Orange Fudge
Makes: roughly 30 pieces | Prep: 15 mins | Cook: 20 mins | Set: 3 hrs
Ingredients
500g caster sugar
400ml double cream
75g liquid glucose (in most large supermarkets, baking aisle)
300g dark chocolate (70% cocoa minimum), broken into small chunks
4 blood oranges (zest of 2, juice of all 4)
A pinch of flaky sea salt, to finish
Method
Start with the orange reduction. Squeeze the juice from all four blood oranges into a small saucepan. Add 50g of the caster sugar and bring to a boil over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Keep at a rolling boil, stirring occasionally, until reduced to around 100ml of concentrated syrup. It should smell intensely of orange and coat the back of a spoon lightly. Zest 2 of the oranges before you juice them and set the zest aside. Remove the syrup from the heat and leave to cool.
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the remaining 450g of caster sugar, double cream and liquid glucose. Place over a medium heat and stir to dissolve the sugar, then stop stirring. Clip your sugar thermometer to the side of the pan. Bring to a boil and let it cook, without stirring, until the thermometer reads exactly 118°C. Watch it closely from 110°C: it moves quickly at the end. If you stir once it's boiling you'll encourage crystallisation and the texture will turn grainy rather than smooth.
Remove the pan from the heat. Add the dark chocolate chunks, the cooled orange reduction and the orange zest. Stir vigorously until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy. The mixture will thicken quickly as it cools. Pour immediately into a lined baking tray (roughly 20 x 30cm), smooth the top with a spatula and scatter the flaky sea salt over. Leave to cool at room temperature for 1 hour, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours until fully set. Cut into squares with a hot knife.
White Chocolate, Spearmint & Hazelnut Fudge
Makes: roughly 30 pieces | Prep: 20 mins | Cook: 20 mins | Set: 3 hrs
Ingredients
500g caster sugar (50g separated for the mint syrup)
400ml double cream
75g liquid glucose
400g white chocolate, broken into small chunks (more than the dark version because white chocolate sets less firmly)
20g fresh spearmint leaves, stems removed
100ml water (for the mint syrup)
75g hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
Method
Make the mint syrup first. Put 50g of the caster sugar and 100ml of water into a small saucepan over a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the fresh spearmint leaves and bring just to a simmer. Remove from the heat immediately and blitz in a food processor or with a stick blender until the mint is completely broken down and the syrup turns a vivid green. Pass through a fine sieve, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the pulp. Leave to cool.
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the remaining 450g of caster sugar, double cream and liquid glucose. Heat and stir to dissolve the sugar, then stop stirring and bring to 118°C, watching the thermometer from 110°C onwards. The same rules apply: no stirring once it's boiling, and pull it at exactly 118°C.
Remove from the heat and add the white chocolate chunks and 3 tablespoons of the mint syrup. Stir until fully melted and the mixture is pale green and smooth. Fold in the toasted hazelnuts. Taste now: it should be sweet, very slightly bitter from the mint, and the hazelnut should come through underneath. If the mint is too faint, add a little more syrup. Pour into a lined tray, smooth and leave to set at room temperature for 1 hour, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Cut into squares.
Milk Chocolate, Raisin & Walnut Fudge
Makes: roughly 30 pieces | Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 20 mins | Set: 3 hrs
Ingredients
500g caster sugar
400ml double cream
75g liquid glucose
300g milk chocolate, broken into small chunks
100g raisins, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes and drained
75g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
Method
Soak the raisins in hot water for 10 minutes while you start the fudge base. The soaking plumps them and stops them drawing moisture from the fudge as it sets, which would affect the texture.
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar, double cream and liquid glucose. Dissolve the sugar over a medium heat with stirring, then stop, clip the thermometer and bring to exactly 118°C without stirring further.
Remove from the heat, add the milk chocolate and stir until completely melted. Fold in the drained raisins and toasted walnuts. Pour into a lined tray, smooth the surface and leave at room temperature for 1 hour, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours. The simplest of the three and somehow the one that goes first. Cut into squares.
Chef's notes
A sugar thermometer is the only piece of equipment that actually matters here. Without one you're guessing, and fudge at 116°C behaves completely differently from fudge at 118°C. They're inexpensive and available everywhere. It's worth owning one.
White chocolate fudge will always be slightly softer than dark or milk chocolate fudge at the same temperature. The higher fat content in white chocolate means it doesn't set quite as firm. This is why the recipe uses 400g rather than 300g, and why it benefits from a longer set in the fridge. If yours is still too soft after 3 hours, leave it overnight before cutting.
The liquid glucose is what gives fudge its smooth, creamy texture rather than a grainy, crystalline one. It's an invert sugar that inhibits crystal formation during cooking. You can find it in the baking aisle of most large supermarkets. Don't skip it and don't substitute honey or golden syrup, which have different properties and will change the texture.
All three fudges keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks. They're good wrapped in parchment, tied with string, given to people who you should have bought a proper present for. Three different flavours suggests effort even if it wasn't.
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For more recipes, signed copies of my cookbooks are available at Payst: Cook Thai and Thai in 7.
Head chef & founder of Farang London restaurant. Cookbook author of ‘Cook Thai’ & ‘Thai in 7’. Chief curry paste basher and co-founder of Payst London.