Tuesday, April 24, 2007

get out the tape!

there are a few things that make me want to tape my mouth shut. one of them is fudge. i can't seem to stop eating it if i have it near me even though i know it will send my blood glucose levels flying off into orbit and make my dentist very happy.

over the years i've tried [and collected] several different recipes — some good, some fantastic and some just okay. often, many of the recipes involve adding marshmallows which i find bizarre and in a way, cheating. fudge is basically crystallized sugar which can be flavoured and fortified with chopped nuts, if wanted.

making fudge can be a tricky thing, especially if one is using a recipe which involves making a sugar syrup. many a time, using recipes which call for sugar syrups can result in disaster and be intimidating. i remember a few times where i either ended up with cement or the whole mixture seized up before it even got it to the pan to harden.

the following recipe was sort of an experiment (on my part as i had never tried it before) for a friend who wanted a kid friendly recipe for fudge. this certainly is a "no-brainer" and easy to make. it doesn't involve boiling sugar or having to beat it with a hand mixer, guessing if it's thick enough or not. rather it involves melting butter and cream cheese and mixing in icing sugar and cocoa. simple and uncomplicated. okay, foolproof.

after refrigeration, the end result was a very nicely thickened dense piece of chocolate fudge. the only thing i found a bit strange was that there was a little layer of butter which coated the top of the mixture. this did not affect the taste whatsoever and i wrote it off, so to speak, for the ease of whipping up a quick batch of something so good. i think this could be corrected or hidden with a layer of nuts pressed into it before refrigeration or chocolate jimmie candies. note that i added a 1/3 cup of flour as i wasn't sure what the end result was going to be; the mixture seemed oily due to the melted butter. in the end, it turned out fine and something worth repeating. my friend and her kid were very happy with the results. :)


no-cook chocolate fudge

ingredients:

1/2 c unsalted butter
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract

8 tbsp cocoa

2.5 c confectioners [powdered] sugar
1/3 c flour [optional]*

method:

melt the butter and add it directly to the softened cream cheese. mix it well with whisk or hand beater until it is incorporated. it may not completely bind together.

using either a mixer or a wooden spoon (don't use a whisk, it didn't work well when i tried), mix in the cocoa and the vanilla.

fold in the powdered sugar and the flour, if using. at this point you can add about a 1/2 to 2/3 c of chopped nuts, if you like it that way.

press into a small dish (i used a 6" x 6" pan) and refrigerate.

cut in small pieces.


enjoy!


13 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

I've never made no-cook fudge and wonder how different it is to the cooked version!
Yours looks wonderful...

Linda said...

i am the SAME way with fudge, and any chocolate product for that matter. this looks wonderful! thanks for the recipe, and as always, the visual help with the recipe ;)

Beenzzz said...

Hurry! Get a mop, I'm drooling over here. I LOVE fudge. I think I might make Guyanese style fudge and post the pictures and recipe on my bloggy poo. What do you think? I bet it's been done a million times over though.

TopChamp said...

yum! Have you tried Tablet? It's a scottish thing. It tastes a lot like plain fudge but is creamy, crystalized sugary and not at all chewy. I think you'd like it. I used it last week like rocket fuel to get me through a show... amazing stuff!

this recipe sounds Brownie pack friendly! I might try it. Last night we made mice from digestive biscuits, condensed milk, chocolate buttons (ears) and strawberry laces (tail and whiskers). They looked pretty grim, but will have tasted great!

burekaboy — said...

rosa :D - actually, depending on which recipes you use, this is not bad at all and quite comparable. it turned out to be one of the fastest fudge recipes (and easiest) i've made to date. it's worth a try.

linda - very welcome :) lol, i am a total sugar fiend, always have been. fudge is now a once a year thing for me unless i'm giving it away or sharing a majority of it. at least, i can blame this batch on my friend for making me find something for her.

beenzzz - yikes! don't mess up the floor, i just washed!!!

what is guyanese fudge??!! :DD fudge made in guyana? seriously, though, i've never heard of that kind, so.... OF COURSE you should make it and post. i'd really like to "read all about it"! who cares if it's been done before.

better yet, i'm committing you to do this and holding you to the challenge!

hiya TC - it's funny, i actually thought of you when i made this. definitely something you could make with the brownies next time.

never tried tablet before (or heard of it! yikes). will look it up to see what it looks like. sounds like my kinda thing. LOL, combine that with a Red Bull and you'd be blasted into outer space for the next gig.

nice to see you :) did you take a pic of the mice??? i hope you post/ed something. will drop by later. i've been seriously busy and not had time to visit blogs lately. even posting has been a major challenge of late.

Jihan said...

I just saw the word fudge and my stomach is growling. This word fudge is one of our favorite sweets. We have lots of different types. Brown, burnt, white, all kinds but never have I had chocolate fudge.

When its frozen like this we call it ice block.

Now where is my sister when I need her... Or a teleporting machine so I can teleport over by you and stop you from making your glucose level rise

burekaboy — said...

PJ - wow, you've never had chocolate fudge?! you have to try it if you like chocolate things. i've never heard of a frozen kind before though. sounds interesting.

oh, no! you're too late!! all the fudge is gone (probably to my waist!).

TopChamp said...

Hello - no worries about visiting - I really don't mind if you don't! (I'm using it more as a diary at the mo anyway). I wouldn't come here if I didn't like it.. and I often don't comment when I haven't much to say.

No snap of mice - sorry. They looked pretty bad though. I might mock one up for you as I still have ingredients here but I'll let you know.

burekaboy — said...

tc - aww, thanks but i like reading what u write. it's often, ok always, quite humorous. lol, i don't have much to say much of the time either! been so busy the past month and a half now that i've little time to surf the web and visit and comment on blogs. getting these postings done is a bit of work since i post lots of pix. anyway, glad i have a reserve to choose from otherwise, i'd be unable to post like i do.

don't worry about the mousey mock up. we wouldn't want to mock mice, now would we? lol. poor things. i'm sure it was mighty bad if it was reminiscent of your wonderful family heirloom pasta dish. :))

TopChamp said...

ha ha - I'd forgotten about that!

As to Scottish accents - there are some really strong ones especially around Fife. Good luck to you trying to understand them if you come across them again. I'm a Welsh by blood English by birth girl living in Scotland.. So no defined accent, but about as British as can be!

burekaboy — said...

TC - lol, i didn't forget about it!!

i swear, we thought they were speaking a different language and kept asking them to repeat everything two or three times! hehe, thought u were Scottish ... but Welsh is one language i'm sure i'd never be able to manage!

Anonymous said...

the only question that i have is, is that how long do you have to refrigerate for? i wanted a quick fix recipe and i found something delicious to make but i just need the time.

burekaboy — said...

anonymous - usually it's about 2 to 4 hours minimum for it to set properly. you could probably speed it up by putting it in the freezer for the first half hour to 45 minutes. you don't want it to freeze. i'd go with a bare minimum of 2 hrs. all depends on how cold your fridge is. hope that helps and you like the fudge. lemme know how it goes! :)