Cooking for People Unsure of what a Stove Does: Recipe 5 - Fudge!

I can guarantee that those are not the worst frisbees
in the world!

     Is it strange that the cooking topics are the one's I'm most consistent about?  Maybe I'm overthinking it.  Anyway, its high time that I put up something sweet for a change, so for this week, I'm going to be making fudge!

Easy Fudge:

Ingredients:

• Sweetened condensed milk (1 can/ 400 mg; make sure it says sweetened and condensed, as German coffee creamer can be labeled "condensed milk," but it is not the same thing)
• Sugar (1 cup)
• Butter (1/4 cup)
• Chocolate (1 cup; either shave the block chocolate grocery stores here have, or use powder)

Look at that melting power!

     To begin with, put your pan onto a medium heat, and melt the butter down.  If you hear it sizzling, or it appears to be boiling as it melts, you have the heat up too high.

Not very pretty yet, I know.

     Next, open your can of sweetened condensed milk (it is also available in tubes too), and add it to the pan.  Stir thoroughly to mix the butter and milk together.

     Also, if you have a can and not a tube, put two holes in the top of the can if you aren't opening it the whole way, in order to allow air into the can.

Just break the chocolate up.  It melts quickly.

     And here is tasty part.  Add your sugar, and what you are using to flavor the fudge (I used chocolate and vanilla, but the fudge can use any flavoring that you like).  If you opt for something other than chocolate, just make sure to use an appropriate amount.  Liquid extracts are far stronger than they look.

Mmmm... Chocolate...

   Once you have your sugar and flavoring added, stir, stir, stir!  You have to keep it moving to stop the mixture for sticking and burning (move the pan off the heat for a second if you start to see it burning).  

     When the fudge moves around as a ball in your pan (about 10 minutes or so, depending on the heat you use), it is ready.

Isn't it wonderful?

     When your fudge is ready to go, pour it onto a greased baking sheet, or any container with a raised edge (that is greased!!), and allow it to set.  If it doesn't harden quickly, put it in the fridge to cool; your fudge is going to be soft.  If the fudge becomes very hard, very fast, you are going to want to cut it before its done cooling, or it will be a brick of toffee.

     Here's the finished product!  Just soft enough to chew, and sugary enough to risk melting teeth!  I hope you enjoy having a homemade sweet treat for a change.  See you next week, when we'll be back on normal dinner items (no, fudge doesn't count), but until then, Guten Appetit!

Warnings:

• Do not attempt to sample the fudge before it has cooled.  It sticks to skin, and will burn you if you do so.
• Overcooking the fudge will result in a more toffee-like texture.  The taste will be pretty much the same.

Tips

• If you have hardened fudge stuck to your pan, fill it with water, boil the water, and then scrape the now-softened fudge from the pan.
• Some grocery stores sell vanilla flavored sugar in packets, which can be a nice alternative to having a strong sugar flavor if you prefer plain fudge.

Proverb of the Day:

No one will ever turn down free fudge.  Who wants to bet against me on this?

*Source links included for stock images.

**The background music is from a personal music project in progress.
***The pictures are thanks to a guest photographer.  That is why they aren't absolutely terrible this week.

****But really though, don't taste the fudge early.  I still have the burn marks.