Monday 20 May 2013

Strawberry and Cream Fudge

 

Pinterest is a site I like to go to when I'm feeling stressed or irritated with the world or having a sad day, and probably my favourite section to browse is food.  Just trawling through pages and pages of pins can be quite soothing.  I have found some new dinners to add to my repertoire (oh three cheese, spinach lasana and chicken parmesan, how I love you!), which is great since I need more variety.  The well-eat plate we have at school has been making me feel bad (stupid vegetables).  I have also stumbled across many a recipe I want to try out for the blog.  Whether this was one of them or not I'm not one hundred percent sure, since out of some weird pride thing I don't pin recipes for the blog: I bookmark them.  Of course, I also bookmark things from all over the net so...yeah.  I think I found this through Pinterest though.  I don't remember googling fudge recipes.

It was the picture that initially attracted me to this recipe.  Seriously, this woman's photos are beautiful!  And her fudge looks amazing.  I wish mine had come out looking that smooth.  I probably used too small a knife.  I also wish it was as beautifully bright in colour but white chocolate over here always gives things an off-white-ish yellow colour and my pink always seems to be slightly dull.  Anyway, once I read the ingredient list I knew I definitely wanted to make it because it was all things I liked and seemed pretty easy to put together.  No temperature monitoring is always a plus!  Flavouring with jelly powder is such a clever idea.  I used Hartley's strawberry flavour, since I had that in my cupboard.  Makes me wonder if I can use other flavours to make other fudge.  I bet I could make three layered citrus fudge if I used orange, lemon and lime jelly powder!  Guess I know what the next fudge recipe I try will be! 

I made a point to read all the comments left by people on the original blog too.  You can find out all about various problems and solutions doing that.  The main one seemed to be that you had to make sure you boiled it for the full amount of time, or the white layer won't firm up properly.  Also that you should definitely use chocolate chips (or morsels in the original), not chopped chocolate since the chips have something in them that helps them hold their shape.

I was rather pleased to discover that the recipe I use to make marshmallow fluff does in fact produce exactly 200g/7oz of the stuff.  I really wasn't sure if I would need a double batch or not so I made one and then weighed it.  Absolutely perfect!  Hurrah!  I did also discover that you can buy the stuff over here in the UK.  Sainsbury's apparently sell it (at least it's listed on their search results for online groceries).  So I could have bought it but the fiancĂ© said it probably wouldn't taste as good as homemade, what with preservatives and all.  I agree.  Plus, it takes barely any time to make and is pretty easy.

Sadly, my white layer did not come out quite as firm as I think it is meant to.  Perhaps it wasn't quite five minutes when I took it off the heat?  It could also be because I didn't put cream of tartar in my marshmallow fluff.  Oops.  Or even because I used homemade fluff?  Maybe I should try it with the jarred brand.  The pink layer is firmer thanks to the gelatin in the jelly mix.  However, this doesn't bother me at all.  Whilst it does make the fudge a little sticky it doesn't stop it from tasting WONDERFUL.  It is seriously delicious.  So creamy and the strawberry is just perfect.  Incredibly more-ish indeed.  I really have to stop myself going into the fridge or I'll be eating far too much and my teeth will suffer for it!  I suppose the well-eat plate isn't getting to me as much as I thought it was.



Recipe - adapted from Shugary Sweets
Makes about 90 bite size pieces
  • 500g/17.5oz granulated sugar
  • 185ml/6.5fl.oz double cream
  • 170g/6oz unsalted butter
  • Pinch of salt
  • 300g/10.5oz white chocolate chips
  • 200g/7oz marshmallow fluff (see below to make your own)
  • 1 tbsp strawberry gelatin powder
  1. Prepare a 33x23cm / 13x9inch tray by greasing it and covering in greaseproof paper.  It is also recommended to have the chocolate chips, marshmallow fluff and gelatin powder all measured out and to hand so you can add it to your mixture quickly.
  2. Melt the butter, sugar, cream and salt in a large pan placed over a gentle heat.
  3. Once melted, increase to a medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
  4. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly as you do.  Make sure to do the full five minutes otherwise it will affect the texture.
  5. Once 5 minutes is up, remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate chips and marshmallow fluff until it is smooth and thick.
  6. Pour half the mixture into the prepared tray and tip about to spread it over the whole thing.
  7. Add the gelatin powder to the remaining mixture and beat until colour is evenly distributed and it is smooth.
  8. Pour on top of the mixture in the tray, aiming to cover all of it.  Use a knife to smooth it out and then a fork to swirl it with the white layer.
  9. Chill in the fridge for at least four hours (though overnight is better).
  10. Once firm, remove from fridge and cut into pieces with a knife  (I made an 15x6 grid to get 90 pieces).  Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Marshmallow Fluff - adapted from Bake me I'm yours...Sweet Bitesize Bakes
  • 1 large egg white
  • 125g/4.5oz caster sugar
  • 25g/0.75oz golden syrup
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  1. Put a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.
  2. Place everything except the vanilla extract in the bowl.
  3. Whilst it is heating, stir with an electric whisk for several minutes (about 10) until you get shiny peaks.
  4. Remove from the heat and whisk for another two minutes to thicken it up.  
  5. Add the vanilla and whisk in too.
  6. Allow to cool.
 

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