I had most of the day off work today, and decided to try making fudge. My candy-making experience has not been a happy one. I have made three efforts to make nut brittle, with results ranging from the mildly disappointing to the awful. I did do a pretty successful toffee last week, however.
My problem came because I let the mixture get too hot - the temperature seemed to climb very rapidly in the last few minutes of cooking - and by the time it was cool enough to even think about adding the vanilla it was WAY too stiff to do so. When cool, it was very hard, almost as much so as hard candy.
On the bright side, it was a pretty easy recipe to put together, so I'm not really hesitant to try again another day.
Fudge is tricky. I just made some recently for gifts from my mother's recipe. She made the BEST fudge! If you don't cook it enough you get some nice sundae topping. If you cook it too much it's too dry. If you're looking for Goldilocks fudge it can be a challenge. Does your recipe say to cook it to the soft ball stage?
ReplyDeleteYup, and I was using a thermometer.The temp seemed to rise very rapidly in the last few minutes, and I just missed the critical point.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I made fudge, but I'd say you should lower your heat & come at the critical temp a bit slower.
ReplyDeleteCheri, I miss so much being so largely self-taught, with only the Cooking Channel and the Food Network to be my grandmas. :)
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