Quick Chocolate Fudge

For YEARS I’ve been eyeing up a Nigella Lawson recipe for chocolate fudge.
But my dad, who loves the stuff, happens to hate any fudge that isn’t vanilla. Then Roger, my boyfriend hates nuts in things, which is something I’m beginning to think all guys hate…


Either way, I had half of a 400g can of evaporated milk leftover and I just couldn’t bear to see it go to waste. I set to googling what kind of recipes would use a cup of evaporated milk and lo and behold, fudge came up. Now I’ve made fudge before but using condensed milk, so I was intrigued by people using evaporated. A quick mash up of recipes and a trip to Markies and I had the ingredients. And my goodness, was this quick to make. Quick to eat too, which can’t be good…

• A 170g can of evaporated milk
• 350g golden granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• Pinch of salt
• One 180g bag of marshmallows (I used mixed pink and white because it’s all I could find)
• 150g bar dark chocolate, bashed up
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• A handful of pistachios.

Method:

Before you start, make sure you’ve bashed up the chocolate into small pieces with a rolling pin and roughly quarter the marshmallows. This will make it easier for them to melt down later.

1. Line a pan that’s roughly 27 by 17cm with non-stick baking paper. I used our tried and tested brownie pan.


2. In a large non-stick pan, warm the evaporated milk, granulated sugar, butter and salt.


3. Let the mixture bubble and boil for about five minutes. Keep stirring it or the mixture will catch. If this happens, the little flecks won’t matter too much as they won’t show up once the mixture’s dark brown, but keep the spoon working the edges of the pan just in case.


4. Once the mixture’s thickened to a glossy thick-cream consistency, take it off the heat and quickly stir in the vanilla, bashed chocolate pieces and marshmallows.

Now, as you’ll see, it doesn’t take long for the whole mixture to come together once things have melted. In fact, if you’re anything like me, you’ll stir it too long then start to panic as it literally turns into a block of fudge whilst you’re stirring..

1. All you have to do is quickly pour the fudge mix into the lined pan and smooth it over with a palette knife the minute everything has melted. The more you marvel at how pretty and glossy it is, the more likely it’ll harden in front of your eyes.


2. Sprinkle over the pistachios and leave to cool.

I put mine in the fridge, mainly so it could cool faster for us all to eat it, but I think as it’s reasonably soft, it’s a good idea to keep it in there. When it’s set you can divide it up into little nibbly pieces.

I took this to my friend Hannah’s wedding and man, was it a lifesaver during the day for a sugar rush. Even if you look weird eating fudge at a wedding.