FUDGE!!!!

Yes, I just used four exclamation points. They were necessary.

Okay, so, back to the point. I made a little candy syrup recently to put on my Thanksgiving yams (recipe is here on the site). It was successful, and I immediately got a big head about my candy-making abilities. I've made caramel and taffy before, after all. Never mind that I was a kid at the time, and my mother was the one actually cooking.

I have to admit, now, that I am not actually as good and kind as I may seem at face value. I decided to try fudge because I remembered having been given fudge by a family member for Christmas many years ago, and, specifically, that the fudge was a little grainy. I wanted to do it better.

Yes, that's right. I wanted to one-up my little cousin. I'm a huge teabag.

That's not the whole thing, though. I also really like chocolate and fudge is really interesting, from a chemistry perspective. And I used to watch the fudge-makers in New Hampshire candy shops make their fudge on the big marble slabs, with the big copper kettles and the big wooden paddles, and it all just looked so totally cool.

So I did a whole lot of research and made my first batch of fudge. It turned into a solid, crumbly mass almost instantly. Upon reflection, I realized I'd used molasses instead of corn syrup - a seemingly minor difference, but corn syrup has a vital role in making fudge, and without it, you get... a solid, crumbly mass.

Second batch of fudge? Amazing.

Third batch of fudge? Amazing.

Fourth batch of fudge? So amazing I came over here to write this blog post.

This particular batch was created to please my lactose-intolerant family members, one of whom also doesn't like chocolate. (Don't get me started.) So I altered the recipe to use cream and a little water instead of milk, and, as always, I used natural sugar instead of white sugar. I also used my favorite brand of fancy European butter, though Land-o-Lakes would do fine, and the seeds from a vanilla bean.

It's buttery and sweet and complex. It tastes like homemade frosting. It tastes like hard-sauce. It tastes like being a little kid again, when candy was a mind-altering experience.

Here's the recipe, but I really, strongly recommend you go over to Science of Candy for a proper breakdown of the procedure - what's going on and why. It's really cool. Their recipe for chocolate fudge is also quite good.

Ingredients:

2 cups natural sugar or evaporated cane juice
1/2 cup light cream
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp premium butter (do not skimp, this is important)
1 tsp vanilla, or 1 tsp vanilla paste, or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Combine the sugar, cream, and water in a small pot. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until it begins to boil. Attach a candy thermometer to the side and boil, undisturbed, until it reaches 238 degrees (soft-ball stage).

Put out a sheet of waxed paper and a spatula for later use.

Remove from heat and let sit, undisturbed, until it cools to 110 degrees. Put out a sheet of waxed paper and a spatula for later use.

When it's cooled, add the butter and vanilla, and stir, gently but thoroughly, until the candy lightens and stiffens. This happens gradually at first, then speeds up rapidly. When you find that the candy is suddenly stiffer now than it was a second before, IMMEDIATELY STOP STIRRING and scoop it out onto the waxed paper. Press another sheet of waxed paper on top of it, pressing it into a flat sheet about as thick as your thumb, or whatever shape you want.

Leave it alone until it's cool - it will magically turn into beautiful, amazing FUDGE.

Sources:
Wikipedia article on fudge, informative but dry
Science of Candy: Fudge, very helpful and explains WHY on every step, which I like