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Christmas Fudge Recipe

Make this decadent Christmas Fudge recipe for a fun and festive treat at home or give them to friends and family this holiday season. Anyone can make this easy fudge recipe!

Who doesn't love fudge? Couple that with Christmas, and you've got sweet tooth heaven. This is such an incredible and easy fudge you might want to celebrate year round! This Christmas fudge recipe is based on one called "French Chocolate Fudge" from an ancient cookbook called Farm Journal's Choice Chocolate Recipes, one of the finest chocolate cookbooks I've ever come across. If you are a chocoholic, and I include myself, this is the book for you. It is long out of print, however copies can still be had through online used booksellers, as my friend Sheryl did early this year. She found a number of copies still for sale.

The beauty of this recipe is its simplicity. And of course, any recipe I find doesn't stay "original" long. I have to add, tinker, embellish. For the holidays, I add chopped candied cherries, and prefer pecans in place of the original walnuts, although both, or a blend are good. I have another recipe in this book I'm going to try that uses marshmallows. Will let you know in a future blog how that turns out. I'm not a marshmallow fan, but have found myself with half a bag. This one will remain my favorite, I suspect.

Sue Van Slooten teaches cooking and baking classes at her home on beautiful Big Rideau Lake, Ontario, Canada. She specializes in small classes for maximum benefit.

Easy Fudge

Line a 20cm/8inch square tin with baking paper. Place a glass of cold water in the freezer (or in the fridge with ice cubes).

Place all of the ingredients, apart from the salt, into a large, dry saucepan over a low heat. Continuously stir until the butter has melted and the sugar has completely dissolved.

Slowly bring the mixture to a rolling boil over a medium-high heat for 10 minutes. Stir continuously, especially around the edges, to stop the mixture catching on the bottom of the pan and burning. Be very careful as the mixture is very hot.

Once the mixture has reduced and darkened, carefully dip a teaspoon into the mixture and drizzle it into your glass of iced water (remove the ice cubes if using.) It should become a soft, pliable ball you can squash with your fingers when dropped into the iced water. If it sticks to the glass or your fingers when you press it, continue to boil and test the mixture every 2–3 minutes, or until it passes the test.

Add a pinch of salt then beat the mixture well. Leave to cool in the saucepan for 10 minutes. Beat the thickened mixture again, breaking the top that will have started to set until it starts to lose its shine. Leave for another 5 minutes and beat again. Pour into the lined tin and level with the back of a spoon.

Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or until completely firm and you can cut through it easily with a knife without it getting stuck. Remove the fudge from the tin, transfer to a chopping board and slice into 36 pieces (6x6) with a sharp knife.

Fudge Recipes

The ingredients for fudge need to be heated to the 'soft ball' stage (ie a temperature of 112-116C/234-240F). The mixture is then beaten until it cools to give the fudge a smooth, creamy consistency. If the mixture is not beaten sufficiently, it will set with large sugar crystals and the resulting fudge will be grainy.

Experiment with fudge recipes: try using brown sugar or maple syrup instead of refined white sugar – it can alter the taste dramatically. Alternatively, before the fudge sets, mix in ingredients such as nuts or dried fruit to add texture and flavour.

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