Classic creamy fudge

Have you been experimenting with a bit of lockdown baking? It feels like just about the whole country has been mixing up their cooking skills (pun intended). That Dalgona coffee phase near enough broke the internet (we whipped up our own Dalgona recipe, ,which you can find on our Instagram). Over these last few months, social media has seen it all: everything from a first-time-cook’s Sunday roast to countless innovations in banana bread, it’s all been proudly shown off online by the country’s home cooks.

You’ll often find us in the kitchen, where we’ll be making the most out of our gadgets to help us out with our home cooking ventures. So, naturally, we’ve loved seeing everyone’s new-found enthusiasm for spending an afternoon in the kitchen whipping up some scrummy treats. With the latest lockdown sensation at the forefront of our minds, we wanted to use this blog post to provide all our home bakers with one of our favourite recipes that is super easy and a real showstopper.

Whether you’re looking for a way to entertain the little ones, or just want to keep trying new things yourself, trying out this recipe for classic creamy fudge is the perfect way to spend an afternoon.

Fudge is a notoriously difficult little morsel to master. Up and down the country, chefs and home bakers alike have grappled with the task of trying to create the perfect batch of this decadent treat.

But, we reckon (while we’re all at home with a fair bit of time on our hands) there’s no time like the present to be trying our hands at recreating this, one of the nation’s favourite treats, at home.

Don’t panic though, we haven’t assigned you mission impossible just yet. We think we’ve found the *touchwood* perfect foolproof fudge recipe. At Smarter, we’re all about coming up with innovative twists and tricks, so this recipe sticks to just four key ingredients. This is what makes it so simple and guarantees you the perfect delicious batch each and every time.

Without further ado, below you’ll find our recipe for classic, creamy fudge at home - just the thing for your next bout of home baking.

Ingredients:

• Condensed milk, 397g (this is the amount in a standard-sized tin)
• Milk, 150ml
• Butter, 115g
• Brown sugar, 450g

 

Method:

1. Line a 20cm square tin with baking paper and then lightly grease the paper (so that the fudge doesn’t stick).

2. Add all of the ingredients to a large non-stick saucepan. Gently melt all the ingredients together over low heat, and keep stirring the mixture until all of the sugar has dissolved and butter has melted.

Then turn the heat up to a medium/ high heat, bring the mixture to a rolling boil and then let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. Make sure you keep stirring the whole time (and keep scraping the base and sides of the pan too, so that none of it gets burnt or stuck!).

3. Then, once you’ve finished heating the mixture, remove the pan from the heat. (Now, you can also add in any extra ingredients or flavours that you like). Then leave the fudge to gradually cool down for 5 minutes, but make sure you keep beating the mixture the whole time.

4. Dollop the mixture into the tin, then push it down firmly with the back of a spoon. Leave it to sit for a few hours, then cut it into little squares, ready to serve.

In an airtight container at room temperature, this fudge will keep for up to 2 weeks (if it lasts that long!).

We love the versatility of this recipe, and the way you can use it as an easy base to create all different kinds of scrummy fudge varieties. Here are our ideas for a few different fun bits and bobs that you could add to this base fudge mixture:

• Chocolate chunks
• Chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, pistachios, peanuts or hazelnuts all work really well)
• Marshmallows and chocolate chunks for a rocky road version
• Vanilla essence for a classic flavour
• Peanut butter
• Oreos
• M&M’s
• Malteasers
• Toffee pieces
• Chop up your favourite chocolate bar into little pieces, then stir it in!
• Smarties
• Coconut flakes
• Dried fruit (this could be whatever you fancy - cherries, cranberries)
• Baileys
• Almond essence

You can get the kids involved with fun ways to experiment with this base recipe, and let their imagination run wild with all of the fun flavour combinations that you can create.

You could even work together to create your own lockdown cookbook - filling it with all of the clever recipes that you created, or the recipes for your favourite things that you cooked and baked while you were at home together.

If you’re really getting into your home baking lately and want to invest in a gadget that helps you perfect this hobby, we’d like to introduce you to our FridgeCam.

The tricky thing with baking is knowing for sure that you’ve got all of the necessary bits and bobs in stock. With main meals, you can normally improvise a bit if you’re missing something, but if you’re about to start baking and you find that you’re out of eggs, that puts a pretty quick halt to your plans.

So, the next time you’re stuck at the supermarket wondering whether or not you used up the last of the flour, it’s not a problem; just check FridgeCam.

FridgeCam is a handy little device that can be easily installed in either your fridge or kitchen cupboards/ pantry (or both). Once in place, it provides your phone (via the Smarter app) with a snapshot of the contents of your fridge or cupboard along with an inventory list for those hidden items right at the back of your fridge or kitchen cupboards, so that you can see what you’ve got in stock from anywhere.

So, if lockdown has given you a desire to amp up your baking skills, now is the perfect time to invest in a FridgeCam to make sure these intentions for this excellent new hobby stick.

Have a browse through our online store and check out our fantastic range of clever smart kitchen gadgets. Thanks to our super speedy delivery, we’re even able to provide you with your newest piece of kitchen kit within 72 hours of you placing your order. So while we’re sorting the shipping, you can start taking a look at all the new recipes that you and the family want to have a crack at together.

Recipe: BBC Food - https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/fudge_93112

Images: Carnation and BBC Food websites