Vanilla Fudge - Still Sweet Week????

Making fudge is not as hard as I thought and not as easy as I hoped. Everytime I see the mountain of fudge at the market stall of The Man of Aran, I think I should make my own (save a lot of money as well). 

Stirring and stirring

There are different recipes out there. Some telling you to use a sugar thermometer, others will tell you that it is hard, some use full fat milk, some use evaporated milk - you get the drift....here is the easiest I could figure out and all you need is a pan, a spoon and your eyes and the result is as good as any fudge you can buy (not talking about the cheap stuff tho). You will need to stir quite a bit as it tends to stick to the bottom of the tin and you will get brown flecks in your fudge. The stirring is the hardest part as you will need to stand there for a while - you will even think that it never turns the colour you are waiting for but trust me, it will - eventually. The taste is worth the effort tho and Mr T was a happy man after having a few squares (I can only eat one or two - it is quite rich and sweet). Next time I might try to use the fudge as a filling for my chocolates.

You will need:

375g condensed milk (that's a small jar)

1 tsp vanilla essence (the real stuff - you might want more)

250g caster sugar

50g butter

Cooling in the tin

Finally - stirring has paid off

In a saucepan mix together the milk, essence, sugar and butter. Heat gently, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Bring to a boil and boil until mixture turns a goldish caramel colour (that might take a while, don't stop stirring tho). 

Remove from the heat, beat until smooth (careful, it's damn hot) and pour the fudge into a lined tin.

Allow to cool completely and set before cutting it into squares

The Final Result - Yummy

Let me know if you tried it

Bon Appetit