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Weeks 5, 6, & 7: Catching Up

I don't know how regular bloggers do it. Especially those with young children. The fudge has continued, but the blog is trailing behind.

Week 5: Chocolate Orange. Very tasty. Made the original recipe and added 1tsp of orange extract. I personally think it would be better a little stronger, maybe 1 1/2 tsp. My husband liked it the way it was. One "reviewer" could taste the citrus, but couldn't tell what it was. So, it had a hint of orange, but not a strong flavor.

Week 6: Chocolate taffy. No, that's not the flavor - it really was chocolate taffy. My first flop since beginning this. I did a couple things different, which means I don't know what caused the problem. Yes, I should know better. It wasn't entirely my fault, however, as you'll see.

First, I was attempting to make a slightly spicy chocolate, using some raw chocolate truffles as the cocoa base. The truffles were unlike any I've had before. Hence the "raw" part of their name, perhaps. They had no butter or cream or anything; just chocolate and spices. While I like a bit of spicy-ness in my chocolate sometimes these were just way too spicy for my taste. I thought that if I made them into fudge it would down down the chili pepper just enough.

Second, I put the butter in at the beginning of the recipe. I was wondering why the butter had to be added at the end, and I have seen some recipes that put it at the beginning, so I decided to try it.

Third, I really, really think it didn't get beaten enough. I made this batch on a day when it was just me and the babe home. He woke from his nap at a rather critical point, and wasn't very agreeable when I informed him that I really had to beat the fudge before I poured it. Ultimately he's the boss at times like that, so I poured it and hoped for the best.

Sadly, it really wasn't (the best, that is). It wasn't nearly chocolatey enough. It was mostly just sweet & spicy. The heat factor was actually just about where I like it, but it really needed more chocolate. Mainly though, it didn't set. It was sticky and chewy, and after a day or two, quite grainy. Oh well.

Week 7: White Chocolate Swirl. This was at the request of my 4 year old, with a resounding assent from my 7 year old, and the assistance of my husband. I made the original recipe, simultaneously melted some white chocolate chips, and then swirled the white chocolate on/into the fudge as i poured it. Hubby was in charge of spooning out the white chocolate.

This was pretty tasty. The white choc was a different texture than the fudge (hard, like chocolate), which I think detracted from the enjoyment a bit. I'd like to attempt this with a white chocolate fudge recipe, and swirl the two. I think that would work better. I also thought the white chocolate overwhelmed the chocolate a bit. But that's just me. Everyone at Family Dinner enjoyed it, but I didn't get any critical reviews of its' merits & shortfalls.

Whew...writing an entire post one-handed is exhausting. I've got more to say, but I think I'll just post this and wait until the little guy is asleep in bed before trying to do more....

Fudge Art

Within days of hearing of my New Year's resolution, my dear young friend F presented me with this lovely piece of art to help keep me focused on my goal. I'm not sure if it was her idea, or if her mother put her up to it, but I love it. I keep it on my kitchen windowsill, right next to the stove.

There needs to be more art related to the love of fudge. A quick google search came up with almost nothing. A couple designs on cafe press and an artist by the name of Carl Fudge where the best I could come up with. However, a google image search for fudge did come up with some tasty looking results. I may have to try the Spud Fudge...you know, for research purposes. Oooh, I just found this: Pumpkin Pie fudge. I think I want to try making that one, once I branch out from chocolate varieties. Wow, I'm finding all sorts of interesting things on the google image search. I found a recipe that involves pouring fudge over frozen Twinkies. That sounds like a bit much for me, but it was interesting to read.

I want to work on photographing my fudge. I tried a few times, but the pics just didn't look that great. I'm not sure what I need; better lighting, better angles, better camera? I'll have to keep trying. This last batch (the white chocolate swirl) looked very pretty. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but it was a very busy day and I just didn't have time. My kitchen is pretty small and I had to cut it up and put it away so I could cook dinner (it was my turn to host FD).

On a different note, I wish this blogging program was slightly easier to use. I can't easily move the photos around, hence the strange layout at the top. I also can't figure out how to make the "fudge" plaque my banner at the top, without obscuring the title. It's kind of annoying. sigh. It's also posting this on the date I started it, not on the date I'm actually posting it. I don't like that either.

Week 4: Chocolate Malt (take 1?)

I had a suggestion/request for a chocolate malt flavor and since I've had a jar of malt powder in my cupboards for some time I thought I'd give it a try. It turns out that what I had was Classic Malt Ovaltine (which, by the way, I just realized is owned by Nestle. :( Why is that a bad thing? Here's some links. Breastfeeding.com looks like a particularly good summary. Let me know if you have a better link.) I decided to try it anyway, despite the fact it contains a host of ingredients other than just malt powder. When I have a moment without a wriggly, nursing, or sleeping baby in my lap I will do some research on malt powder/syrup/flavorings. I am not sure if the flavor we know as "malt" is the combination of ingredients in things like Ovaltine, Carnation Malted Milk, and Whoppers, or if it can be achieved through plain malt powder or malt syrup. I plan on finding out.

This one gets mixed reviews. At Family Dinner tonight, one person (M) told me it was her favorite so far, and another (N) told me it was her least favorite so far. I can barely taste the malt flavor, although others said they could taste it. I can taste a difference in flavor, but not one that I can clearly define. The malt powder also strongly changed the texture from what I am used to. It has a much harder consistency, although M commented that she thought it was smoother. For me, it's more like biting into a chocolate bar than a piece of fudge. It's just too dense. I have some thoughts on trying for a Chocolate Malt flavor again, to get the consistency I'm used to, with a nice Whopper-ish flavor to it.

As an aside, I have decided to cut the recipe in half for most of my batches. It leaves me with much less to eat (which is a good thing, really), and will cut down on things like the cost of butter. Speaking of butter, as I was converting the recipe I realized that I have accidentally been doubling the butter in my last couple batches. I know I doubled it in the last batch (I have an image of an entire stick of butter floating in the fudge), but I'm not quite sure how many times I have done it. So I plan on experimenting with the quantity of butter and see what kind of difference it makes.

The recipe for this one, if you want to try it:
1/3 cup cocoa
1 1/4 cup sugar (I cut the sugar down to account for the extra sweetener in the Ovaltine)
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup malt powder (dissolved into the milk)
1/2 TBSP corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
1/2tsp vanilla

Week 3: Caramel Chocolate, take 1

My friend Nancy gave me a bottle of caramel syrup, made for flavoring coffee and desserts, to use in my caramel chocolate experiment. As I planned how to adapt the recipe I realized that it probably wouldn't work well for the fudge, but I wanted to try it anyway. It is a syrup, so it is thin, and not as strongly flavored as an extract. I modified the recipe by leaving out the corn syrup, measuring generously on the cocoa, and cutting back on the milk and sugar. I figured I needed to adjust for both the extra liquid and the extra sweetness. I really had no idea how it would turn out though.

When I poured it (onto the marble slab seen in the photo) I was a little worried that it was going to run all over the table. It was a close call. My husband put a couple plastic lids under the slab where it was starting to run over the sides. It's a little on the soft side, but it has hardened enough to pick up a piece and I'm hoping that it will set up some more overnight.

Flavor-wise, it's okay. I mean it's good, but you can't really taste the caramel. It's just a hint of a flavor, if you think about it really hard while savoring it. My husband and older daughter said they could taste it, but my younger daughter said all she tasted was chocolate. I also sprinkled sea salt over a third of it. I wish I had done more - I really like the addition of the sea salt, and I think it actually helps bring out the caramel flavor a little more.

The texture is perfect - I think it's the smoothest batch I've ever made. I wish I knew why (and how to replicate it). I need to do some more reading on fudge-making.

Next time that I try caramel I will either use melted caramel candies and swirl them through as I pour the fudge, or caramel ice cream topping. I think that these might get the flavor combination I was looking for.

Week 2: Chocolate Mint

Oh my. This turned out better than I had hoped. You know Andes Candies? That's what it reminded me of. I made it Sunday night - it was gone by Wed morning. My daughters helped a lot on making this one disappear. And I did share more than four pieces per family at Family Dinner. I will definitely be making this one again. I can picture it wrapped up in a lovely box with a fresh mint leaf on top.

To make this one I simply added 1 tsp of Peppermint Extract at the same time as I put in the vanilla.

I'm not sure what I'll make next week. I'm open to suggestions (after all, I have to come up with 52 varieties - one for each week of the year). Here's my list of ideas so far:
Chocolate Mint
Chocolate w/Sea Salt
Chocolate w/Orange, Lemon, or Raspberry
Chocolate Caramel
Chocolate Caramel w/Sea Salt
Mocha
Chocolate w/Cinnamon
Chocolate w/Chili
Chocolate w/dried cherries or cranberries
Chocolate with peanut butter
Extra Dark Chocolate

Week 1: Just Chocolate

For Week 1 I was sorely tempted to attempt a batch of Chocolate Mint fudge, but I wanted to make one more successful batch of just plain fudge first. I have to admit that my initial plan was to share a significant portion of this batch with my friends. After all, I had already finished off the second batch of fudge since Christmas! [Yes, I have some self-control issues when it comes to fudge. Are you ready to start taking bets on how much weight I'm going to gain this year? LOL. Please don't - hopefully I'll gain some self-control by virtue of the fact that it will be around frequently and not such a rare, coveted treat.] So...when I poured the fudge and starting cutting it up and preparing to keep some and give some to each of four families...well...I only ended up sharing 4 pieces with each couple. Hey, it's a pretty small batch! But I did promise them that there would be more!

[Recipe temporarily removed]

This is what I'm starting with; some history and modifications of this recipe to come later (when I'm not also trying to entertain an active baby on my lap).