Tuesday Treats: Vanilla Fudge

Hello sugarplums :)

Back at the beginning of January I mentioned that I'd made a Christmas hamper full of treats for some relatives. Lots of you expressed an interest in seeing what I made so I've decided to break it down into separate posts otherwise it would go on forever. Apologies for not having this up sooner, I managed to almost exceed my Photobucket bandwidth. I really need to get some better photo storage options - if you can recommend any good websites with better bandwidth, please let me know, I'd be ever so grateful!

Vanilla Fudge

Recipe

Borrowed from The Cook's Scrapbook - excellent book!

Preparation time: 20 minutes plus standing time
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes approximately 450g/1lb

Ingredients

4 tablespoons of water
155g/4oz of Butter
550g/1 1/4lb Caster Sugar

2 tablespoons of Golden Syrup

175ml/6 fl. oz Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 teaspoon of Natural Vanilla Extract or Essence

Method

- Butter an 18cm/7inch square, shallow tin.

- Pour the water into a heavy-based saucepan, add the butter, caster sugar and golden syrup and stir over a low heat until all the sugar has dissolved.

- Brush down the sides of the pan with hot water from time to time.

- Add the condensed milk, bring to the boil and cook, stirring continuously, for about 10 minutes until the mixture reaches a temperature of 118 degrees celsius/240 degrees fahrenheit on a sugar thermometer. Alternatively, take the pan off the heat and test by dropping a teaspoon of the mixture into a bowl of cold water - if it does not form a soft ball when taken out, continue to boil for a little longer and retest as before.

- When the fudge is ready, remove the pan from the heat and stand aside until the bubbles subside.

- Stir in the vanilla extract or essence and beat with a wooden spoon until the texture is thick and creamy and a heavy trail is formed when the mixture is allowed to fall from the spoon.

- Pour the mixture immediately into the prepared tin and allow to cool.

- When almost set, mark the fudge into squares with an oiled knife.

- Cut when completely cold and firm.

- Store in an airtight tin for up to four weeks, interleaved with waxed or nonstick baking paper.

♥

Et voila!

Have you ever made fudge before? I was surprised at how simple it was! Did you make anything special for Christmas?