TODAY IN NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

[rmd]

TODAY, IN NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

I failed at Never-Fail Fudge.

I now have a batch of fudge with a slightly weird texture and some small sugar candy chunks in it.

Hopefully they won't throw me out of Somerville at the next "What the Fluff" festival.

note to self: yes, the evaporated milk goes in with the initial batch of ingredients

Comments

[tamidon.livejournal.com]

sounds like it got over crystallized.use a thermometer to get to the softball stage

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i just about got to softball, then realized that i'd forgotten to add the evaporated milk. my recovery resulted in a suboptimal fudge.

[tamidon.livejournal.com]

yup, cold milk crystallized the sugar

[rmd.livejournal.com]

ahh. i slowly brought it back up to softball, but there were still small chunks.

otoh, man, i love my new stove. the controls on the old one were much less responsive, so there was much less variation available in temperature.

[earthling177.livejournal.com]

Next time I recommend you try the recipe for fast and easy fudge from your microwave in 5 minutes: http://www.tomfarrell.org/food/snacks/fudge.shtml ;-)

Honestly, there are things the nuker is much better at than other heating devices. I do have to warn you though that some people started buying condensed milk by the crate after getting that recipe. Then again, they were australians, so who knows. Anyway, I had that fudge before and it's good.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

huh! that looks quick. I may try that out some time.

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

Apart from everything else, here's a couple of things to think about.

1. All sugar is not created equal. Stuff labeled "Sugar" is okay for stirring into your iced tea, but never ever use anything but 100% cane sugar for baking or confectionery. Otherwise, it may (likely will) contain beet sugar, which has different characteristics, and it just won't work right.

2. All chocolate chips are not created equal, and many of them should only be called "chocolate" by courtesy. Furthermore, all chocolate chips contain stabilizers that keep them in chip form, and that effs with their meltability. If you can't be reasonably assured that your chips are more chocolate than stabilizer, consider using real chocolate, broken up.

I have another recipe, not involving fluff or chocolate chips, if you want it. It's very good and quite easy and has worked every time for me.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Yep, and yep. I always use cane sugar for baking. Also, I don't care if cook's illustrated claims the fake stuff is just as good for baking, I use real vanilla extract. And chocolate is good but "chocolate flavored" things, well, not so much.

Sure, hook me up with the recipe.

Thanks!