Happy fudging Christmas!

Well shit, once again it’s that time of year where I manage to ignore my girlfriend’s requests to go Christmas shopping past the point of no return, leaving me with only a couple of days to somehow pull something that resembles a well thought out and loving present out of my arse. Unfortunately, life as a chef is not the most accommodating for catching up on your Christmas shopping. Every time I have found a moment to myself, quite literally the last thing I even want to think about is shopping. For example, today (being my first day off over the Christmas period) would have been ideal to head off out into the rain, probably to Oxford Street and get everyone presents but fuck that right? Procrastination is much more enticing than shopping, so I am going to procrastinate the shit out of this Christmas and after 355 days of hard contemplation, I’m just going to make fudge - loads and loads of fudge.

Before I get started with the recipe, I also came across this absolutely useless piece of history about fudge which I thought I might as well include for you. Apparently, fudge was accidentally created in Virginia USA, by a toffee maker’s apprentice. Allegedly a toffee demonstration went a little sideways and the mixture was taken off at the wrong temperature allowing the toffee maker to coin the term “to fudge something up”. We have a similar phrase which we use in the restaurant when things go wrong but I’ll leave that anecdote for another time.

Right then! Back to the recipe, as I said earlier, we are making three different types of fudge, the first being dark chocolate and blood orange. In order to get a potent orange taste to infuse into my fudge, I squeezed the juice from four oranges, then reduced it by around half into a 100ml, concentrated juice. This was then added to my fudge along with some orange zest, the result – orange fudge, obviously.

The second fudge is white chocolate, spearmint and hazelnut. For this I had to work out the best way to infuse the mint into my fudge. In the end I decided to make a clear sugar syrup using caster sugar and water, as soon as this warmed, I then added the fresh mint and blended to capture the flavour and colour of the mint in the syrup. However, if you have ever made fudge before you may know that white chocolate does not set as firm as others when used in fudge. Due to this I had to increase the white chocolate content to ensure that it would set correctly, I’m sure that no one will have an issue with extra chocolate, if they do, they can bugger off.

The third and final fudge is milk chocolate, raisin and toasted walnut. This is the simplest of the three. Of course, all of these are tasty in their own right, however I have a lot of people that I need to pretend I have thought about getting a present for, so for me, three seems like slightly less of a shit effort than one?

Dark Chocolate Orange Fudge

Ingredients:

• 500g caster sugar

• 400ml double cream

• 75g liquid glucose (easily found in most major supermarkets)

• 300g dark chocolate, broken into small chunks

• 4 blood oranges (zest of 2, juice of all 4)

Instructions:

1. Begin by boiling 50g caster sugar with the freshly squeezed orange juice until reduced to approximately 100ml. Add the zest of 2 blood oranges.

2. In a separate pan, combine the remaining sugar, double cream, and glucose. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring regularly. Continue boiling until the mixture reaches 118°C.

3. Remove from heat, mix in the dark chocolate, concentrated orange juice, and zest. Pour into a lined tray, sprinkle with coarse sea salt, and cool for one hour. Set in the fridge for up to two hours.

White Chocolate, Spearmint, and Hazelnut Fudge

Ingredients:

• 500g caster sugar

• 400ml double cream

• 75g liquid glucose

• 400g white chocolate, broken into small chunks

• 20g fresh mint, chopped

• 75g hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

Instructions:

1. Melt 50g sugar with 100ml water in a pan. Add fresh mint, blitz in a food processor, and strain to keep the liquid.

2. Combine sugar, double cream, and glucose in a pan and boil until 118°C.

3. Mix in white chocolate and hazelnuts. Pour into a lined tray, cool, and set in the fridge for up to two hours.

Milk Chocolate, Raisin, and Walnut Fudge

Ingredients:

• 500g caster sugar

• 400ml double cream

• 75g liquid glucose

• 300g milk chocolate, broken into small chunks

• 100g raisins, soaked and drained

• 75g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

Instructions:

1. Combine sugar, double cream, and glucose in a pan and boil until 118°C.

2. Remove from heat and add milk chocolate, raisins, and walnuts. Pour into a lined tray, cool, and set in the fridge for up to two hours.

So there you have it, a delightful trio of fudge that’s sure to be the talk of your next gathering. Whether you share it with family or keep it all to yourself, these recipes are a testament to the joy of culinary experimentation. If you try them out, do let us know how it goes! And remember, if you’re in the mood for more delectable treats, we're always ready to welcome you at Farang. Happy fudging!