FUDGE!
FUDGE!
The Definitive FUDGE! Authority
WITH MORE THAN 200 DELICIOUS, DELECTABLE, AND OCCASIONALLY DECADENT FUDGE RECIPES!
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THE HISTORY OF FUDGE
THE HISTORY OF FUDGE
Before 1886: The exact origin of fudge is not known, but it is said to have originated from a "fudged" batch of caramels, hence the name "fudge."
1886: A Vassar student's cousin sells fudge in Baltimore for 40 cents a pound. This is the first known sale of fudge.
1887: Emelyn Battersby Hartridge, a student at Vassar College, learns of her classmate's cousin and his fudge.
1888: Emelyn Hartridge gets her hands on the fudge recipe and makes 30 pounds of it for the Vassar Senior Auction.
1889: The first fudge shop is opened in Mackinac Island, Michigan. The island eventually becomes famous for its fudge.
1890’s: Murdick's Candy Kitchen on Mackinac Island, Michigan wows visitors by making its fudge on marble slabs, giving their fudge a unique taste and turning the fudge making process into a show.
1900’s: By this time people came up with the idea of undercooking fudge so they could pour it over ice cream. This is how the hot fudge sundae is born.
1906: C.C. Browns, an ice cream parlor in Hollywood, is officially credited with inventing the hot fudge sundae.
1950’s: A fudge recipe that uses evaporated milk and requires less cooking is introduced. It is called "Mamie's Fudge" or "White House Fudge" and is rumored to have been invented by Mamie Eisenhower.
FUDGE LORE . . . .
The "invention" of fudge is commonly attributed to privileged Ivy League college girls - quite a turn from most foods generated in the dawning years of the 20th century! It is quite likely that the enterprising co-eds found "alternative" ways to melt store -bought chocolate/cocoa (Baker's, Hershey's), adding whatever ingredients they had on hand to approximate the semi-soft, delicious confections they tasted on family holiday. Their concoctions probably tasted pretty good.
While the history of sweet compact confections (with or without nuts) is ancient, the fudge we Americans enjoy today (especially of the chocolate variety) is a relative newcomer.
American confectioners introduced modern fudge to resort-area vacationers in the 1880’s. Mackinac Island (Michigan) is particularly known for this confection. Early recipes for homemade fudge are more closely related to early 20th century (cake icing) confections. One of the primary differences between professional and amateur fudge is the equipment. Professionals employed huge marble tables to work their confections into the right consistency. Home cooks (and Ivy League co-eds) simply poured their mixed ingredients directly into baking pans and let them cool.
Food historians define fudge as "a semi soft candy made from butter, sugar, and various flavorings, the most usual being chocolate, vanilla, and maple. Fudge was first made in New England women's colleges. The origins of the term are obscure. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests it may be a variant of an older word, "fadge," meaning "to fit pieces together." Since around 1833, the word "fudge" had been used to describe a hoax or cheat, and by mid-century "Oh, fudge!" was a fairly innocuous expletive. It has long been speculated that American college women, using candy making as an excuse to stay up late at night, applied the then- current meaning to the new candy. The word "fudge” as a candy first appeared in print in 1896, and by 1908 was commonly associated with women’s colleges, as in "Wellesley Fudge." "Divinity fudge," with egg whites and (sometimes) candied cherries, came along about 1910 and was especially popular during the holidays. The name probably referred to its "divine flavor."
The Irish recipe for "fadge" makes an apple potato cake. It was traditionally served on the feast of Samhain (Halloween).
The derivation of the name fudge and the origins of the sweet are both obscure. Fudge, as we now believe, seems to have traveled east to Britain from North America. Anecdotal evidence links it to women's colleges in the late nineteenth century, and most early recipes include chocolate. It is possible that Scottish migrants took the idea of a milk-based tablet to North America. Whether these were influenced by fudge-like mixtures of brown sugar and nuts from Creole cuisine of the southern states is unclear. Fudge appears to have been taken up by confectioners and large companies some years later. Skuse, who collected formulae, including North American ones, did not include one for fudge in the early editions of his Confectoners Handbook, but recipes first appear in British books in the first decade of this century.
Fudge, which denotes a sort of soft, somewhat toffee -like sweet made by boiling together sugar, butter, and milk, is a mystery word. It first appeared in the USA at the end of the nineteenth century when it was used for a kind of chocolate bonbon', and by 1902 the journal The Queen was recording that the greatest "stunt" among college students is to make fudge.
Most recipes are not invented - they evolve. Compare this recipe for "chocolate caramel" with those below for "fudge":
Chocolate Caramels (1884)
"One cup of molasses, half a cup of sugar, one quarter of a pound of chocolate, cut fine, half a cup of milk, and one heaping tablespoonful of butter. Boil all together, stirring all the time. When it hardens in cold water, pour into shallow pans, as it cools cut in small squares."
Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D. A. Lincoln, Dover Publications, 1884 (p. 390)
Here are two of the earliest recipes for homemade fudge:
Fudges (1893)
"Four cups granulated sugar; one cup cream; one cup water; one-half cake chocolate; one-half cup butter. Cook until it just holds together, then add two teaspoonfuls extract of vanilla and pour into pans, not buttered. When cool enough to bear finger in, stir it until it no longer runs. It should not grain, but be smooth. Cut into squares." Favorite Dishes: A Columbian Autograph Souvenir Cookery Book, Carrie V. Schulman, facsimile edition, University of Illinois Press, 2001 (p. 197)
Fudge (1903)
“4 ounces of chocolate
2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoonful of vanilla
1/2 cup of milk
1 rounding tablespoonful of butter
Put the sugar, butter, chocolate and milk in a saucepan over the fire until thoroughly melted. Boil, stirring constantly, until the mixture hardens when dropped into cold water; take from the fire, add the vanilla, and turn quickly out to cool. When cold, cut into squares." Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book, Sarah Tyson Rorer, Arnold and Company, 1902 (p. 629)
The Candy Cook Book, Alice Bradley, Little Brown, 1929 has an entire chapter devoted to fudges. The introduction reads:
"The name fudge is applied to a large group of candies made of sugar boiled with water, milk, or cream, from 230 degrees F. To 238 degrees F., and stirred or workd with a paddle until candy becomes firm. If stirred while still hot, the resulting candy is coarse and granular. To prevent this, the syrup should be cooled in the saucepan in which it is cooked, or poured out upon a marble slab, platter, or agate tray that has been slightly moistened with a piece of wet cheesecloth. It should not be disturbed until cool. It should then be stirred with a wooden spoon, or worked with a spatula forward and lifting up the mass, turning it over and bringing it back, until the whole begins to get stiff. At this stage, turn into a pan, or, better still, leave the candy between bars on wax paper on a board, regulating the size of the open space according to the amount of candy and the thickness desired."
[NOTE: this book contains recipes for fudge including chocolate, cocoa, sour cream, chocolate acorns, chocolate Brazil nut, chocolate marshmallow, chocolate walnut, condensed milk, cream nut, plum pudding, sultana, caramel, coconut, coconut cream, coffee, coffee coconut, fruit, ginger, marshmallow, maple marshmallow, maple chocolate, maple nut, praline, maple cream, walnut maple, pecan maple, orange, peanut butter, raisin, raspberry, vanilla, nut, vanilla opera, rainbow, maraschino opera, orange flower opera, pistachio, orange opera, Genessee, brown sugar (penuche), fig penuche, fruit penuche, marshmallow penuche, pecan penuche, peanut penuche, Postum penuche (with instant Postum cereal), raisin penuche, double fudge I, double fudge II, divinity, sea foam, Grapenuts divinity (also a cereal), cream mints, cherry puffs, nut puffs, and pineapple puffs.]
OPERA FUDGE - Opera fudge is one of many delicious culinary specialties connected with Lebanon, PA. This fondant candy is a seasonal treat, traditionally made from Thanksgiving to Easter (it melts in the hotter months). In other parts of the country these candies are called opera drops (Boston), opera creams (Cincinnati), French creams, grand opera creams (Cincinnati), and opera caramels.
WHY “OPERA?” - There are several theories explaining why these candies are connected to the opera, none of them conclusive. Experts aren’t sure why it's called opera fudge but they don’t think it has anything to do with fat ladies, at least not the singing kind. Rather, they generally conclude that it's because it's real rich fudge. The opera is something rich - at the top - like opera fudge.
Opera drops were chocolates with vanilla cream filling, kind of conical, haystack shaped. You would by them during intermission at the opera. There was a British brand called Between the Acts that you could buy at Bailey's in Boston.
A variety of fondant which had cream among its ingredients was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries under the name “Opera Caramels”.
“VANILLA OPERA FUDGE
2 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon cream of tarter
Put sugar and cream in a saucepan, stir until it dissolves, add cream of tartar, and boil, stirring carefully to prevent burning, to 238 degrees F., or until candy forms a soft ball when tried in cold water. Move thermometer often, that candy many not burn underneath. Pour on marble slab, agate tray, or large platter, which has been slightly moistened with a damp cloth, and leave until cool. With broad spatula or butter paddle work the candy back and forth until it becomes creamy. It may take some time, but it will surely change at last if it was boiled to the right temperature. Cover with a damp cloth for half an hour, then add vanilla, working it well with the hands. Press into a small shallow box lined with wax paper, let stand to harden, then cut in squares. Other flavors may be used instead of vanilla, and the candy be tinted with color paste to correspond. Sometimes the fudge is divided into several portions, each flavored and colored differently, and pressed into a box of thin layers, then cut in squares when hard. Or each portion may be packed separately to give more variety when arranged on a bonbon dish." The Candy Book, Alice Bradley (Little Brown, 1929 (p. 67)
HALVA - Food historians tell us halva (halvah, hulwa) is an ancient confection originating in the Middle East and is a generic name for a hugely varied range of confections derived from the sweet Arabic root hulw, made in the Middle East, Central Asia, and India. In 7th century Arabia, the word meant a paste of dates kneaded with milk. By the 9th century, possibly by assimilating the ancient Persian sweetmeat afroshag, it had acquired a meaning of wheat flour or semolina, cooked by frying or toasting and worked into a more or less stiff paste with a sweetening agent such as sugar syrup, date syrup, grape syrup, or honey by stirring the mass together over a gentle heat. Usually a flavoring was added such as nuts, rosewater, or pureed cooked carrots (still popular). The finished sweetmeat would be cut into bars or molded into fanciful shapes such as fish. Halva spread both eastward and westward, with the result that it is made using a wide variety of ingredients, methods, and flavorings.
One Muslim innovation that spread through the Indian subcontinent with remarkable speed was the addition to sweetmeats. Just as Spain had learned of marzipan and nougat from the Arabs, so India discovered the delights of sugar candy. (The word ‘candy' is derived from the Arabic for sugar.) Confections of all kinds, made from sugar alone, from sugar and almonds, from sugar and rice flour, and from sugar and coconut, became immensely popular as did sweet desserts such as halwa. Muglai halwa probably resembled modern halva-based pureed vegetables or grain, enriched with sugar and almonds - more than the Baghdad original, which was more like an almond-spiked fudge.
One of the primary ingredients of halva is sesame seed. These seeds were known to ancient cooks and incorporated into many recipes. Sesame was one of the first oil-yielding plants to be taken into cultivation in Egypt or the Near East. Wild species, with one exception, are African, but there is a secondary source in India where sesame was introduced in very early times. The name ‘sesame’ is one of the few words to have passed into modern languages from ancient Egyptian, in which it was sesmt.
"Halwa Al - Two pounds of sugar, half a pound of bees' honey, half a bound of sesame oil and four ounces of starch. Stir it middling fine [one the fire until it takes consistency, then spread it on a smooth tile]. Put four ounces of sugar on it, and three ounces of finely pounded pistachios, and musk and rose-water: Spread this filling on it, then cover it with another cloak of halwa and cut it up into triangles. It is as delicious as can be. If you wish, make the filling into meatballs like luqma [luqmat al-qadi], and cover it was the mentioned halawa, and it is saciniyya." Medieval Arab Cookery: Essays and Translations, by Maxime Rodinson, A.J. Arberry, and Charles Perry, Prospect Books, 2001 (p. 456).
“Halwa Yabisa - Dissolve sugar in a cauldron. On every two pounds of it put two pounds of honey and a quarter of a pound of rose-water, and cook it on a quiet fire until it is chewy in the mouth. Leave it a little while, and throw it on a smooth stone tile and knead it with about two ounces of crushed peeled almonds or pistachios. Leave it until it cooks, and take it up. If you want, feed it with them [the almonds and pistachios], and add hazelnuts and toasted chickpeas. It comes out nice. If you want, color it with a little saffron before it comes off the fire. You might pound the almonds fine and mix them with it, and you might take it form the tile and beat it on an iron peg pounded into the wall until it turns white and knead it with the peeled pounded pistachios. Make it into cakes and geometrical shapes [tamathil] and so forth. You might color it while it is on the fire, either with saffron or cinnabar, whichever color you want. There is a kind kneaded with toasted sesame seeds or poppy seed, and it made into tamathil as we did before." ibid. (p. 455)
TIPS AND HINTS FOR MAKING FABULOUS FUDGE
TIPS AND HINTS FOR MAKING FUDGE
When making fudge, large uneven crystals of granulated sugar are dissolved and heated, then re-crystallized. Coarse, grainy fudge results when large crystals are permitted to form. Small crystals result in a smoother and creamier finished product. Stir as little as possible from the time the sugar has completely dissolved through cooking and cooling stages. To prevent large crystals, sugars should be completely dissolved. When large crystals form on the side of the saucepan, they should be removed before a candy thermometer is placed in the pan.
To remove crystals from the side of a pan, use a pastry brush dipped in hot water. Gently brush the crystals down into the syrup or collect them on the brush bristles. Dip the brush frequently in hot water to clean the bristles. Another way to remove sugar crystals is to place a cover on the pan for 2 or 3 minutes. This allows trapped steam to melt the crystals and wash the sides of the pan. If the cover method is employed, make certain the syrup does not boil over.
It is important to cook fudge to the correct temperature. Candy thermometers are the most accurate way of determining the temperature of boiling syrup. Use a candy thermometer that you have tested for accuracy in boiling water: it should read 212°F - if the thermometer reads higher or lower, add or subtract the difference from the recipe temperature. Always attach the thermometer to the side of the pan after washing down sugar crystals. Make certain that the thermometer does not touch the bottom of the pan and that the bulb is fully immersed in the liquid. Read the thermometer at eye level. If a candy thermometer is not available, employ the following cold water test:
Place a small amount of hot syrup into a cup of very cold, but not iced, water. Using the fingers, remove the cooled syrup. If the syrup has not reached the desired stage, continue cooking the syrup and test again.
Soft-Ball Stage (234° to 240°F)
The cooled syrup can be rolled into a soft ball that flattens when removed from water.
Firm-Ball Stage (244° to 248°F)
The syrup can be rolled into a firm ball that does not flatten immediately when removed from water.
Hard-Ball Stage (250° to 266°F)
The syrup can be rolled into a firm ball that gives some resistance when pressed.
Soft-Crack Stage (270° to 290°F)
The syrup can be stretched into strands that are hard but elastic.
Hard-Crack Stage (300° to 310°F)
The syrup forms strands that are hard and brittle and can easily be snapped in half.
To achieve the proper consistency, syrup must be heated to at least the minimum temperature without exceeding the higher temperature. Heating syrup concentrates it. The longer syrup is heated, the more liquid is evaporated and the more concentrated syrup becomes. The higher the temperature, the firmer and more brittle the fudge.
Heavy saucepans with flat bottoms will prevent fudge from scorching during cooking.
Pans should be large enough to prevent syrup from boiling and foaming over the rim.
Always use the size pan suggested in the recipe and never double fudge recipes.
Exercise extreme caution when boiling syrup - hot syrup can cause serious burns if spilled or spattered.
To prevent scorching, chocolate should be melted with care. It may be melted in a saucepan over direct heat at a very low setting, in a double boiler (preferred), or in a microwave oven. Never allow chocolate to simmer or come to a boil. Heat until melted and remove promptly.
Stirring and jarring the sugar mixture, particularly during the cooling phase, can trigger sugar crystal formation and result in coarse, grainy fudge. Do not try to hasten the cooling process; sudden temperature changes can also lead to the formation of larger crystals.
Fudge must be cooled to lukewarm before being beaten and shaped. This cooling can take almost 2 hours for large fudge recipes, and patience is required. Do not place a hot fudge mixture in the refrigerator or freezer to cool unless noted in the recipe.
Butter, not margarine, should be used in most fudge recipes to ensure the best texture and flavor. Many margarines contain added water. Margarine products marked as "spreads" or those that come in tubs should not be used because their water content will cause melted chocolate to become stiff and grainy. Also, the added water will change cooking times. If butter is not available or not desired, use only stick products labeled as "margarine".
Use salted butter. Or, if you use unsalted butter, add ¼ teaspoon of salt per stick of butter called for in the recipe. Salt tends to stabilize the mixture and prevent foaming.
Fudge won't "sugar" if a dash of cream of tartar is added.
Soften "hard as rock" brown sugar by placing a slice of soft bread in the package and closing tightly. In a couple hours it will be soft again.
Avoid making fudge on a humid day. The candy will absorb moisture from the air while cooling and may fail to set properly. If the day is only slightly humid, cooking syrup a degree or two higher than directed may counteract this.
A BIT O’ THE SAUCE FUDGE RECIPES
A BIT O' THE SAUCE FUDGE RECIPES
BAILEYS TRUFFLE FUDGE
BOURBON FUDGE
BRANDY ALEXANDER CHOCOLATE SEASHORE FUDGE BRANDY ALEXANDER SEASHORE FUDGE
COFFEE LIQUEUR PECAN FUDGE
DIVINE RUM FUDGE
DRAMBUIE SEASHORE FUDGE
GRASSHOPPER SEASHORE FUDGE
KAHLUA CREAMY NUT FUDGE
KAHLUA MOCHA SEASHORE FUDGE
KAHLUA SEASHORE FUDGE
SCOTCH WHISKEY SEASHORE FUDGE
BAILEYS® TRUFFLE FUDGE
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (18 oz.)
1 cup white chocolate chips (6 oz.)
3 cups confectioners sugar (12 oz.)
¼ cup butter (½ stick)
1 cup BAILEYS® Irish Cream
1½ cups nuts, chopped (optional)
TRUFFLE TOPPING
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (6 oz.)
½ cup white chocolate chips (3 oz.)
4 tbsp BAILEYS® Irish Cream
2 tbsp butter, cut in pieces
Butter inside surfaces of an 8-inch square baking pan and set aside.
In a large bowl, add confectioners sugar and Irish Cream. Set bowl aside.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt chocolates with butter until chocolates are soft enough to stir smooth. Add hot mixture to ingredients in bowl. Stir until smooth. Add nuts and mix well. Pour into prepared baking pan. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on top of fudge and press gently to even surface. Let cool at room temperature.
TOPPING: in a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt chocolates with butter until chocolates are soft enough to stir smooth. Add Irish Cream and stir just enough to blend with chocolate mixture. Quickly pour topping over cooled fudge and spread evenly. Chill until firm. Cut into squares.
BOURBON FUDGE
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 oz.)
1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz.)
¼ cup MAKER’S MARK® Kentucky Bourbon, or your favorite bourbon
¼ tsp orange extract
1 package slivered almonds (¾ oz.)
Butter inside surfaces of an 8-inch square baking pan. Sprinkle bottom of pan with almonds and set aside.
In a large, microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips and milk. Cover loosely. Microwave on HIGH (100%) setting for 3 minutes. Remove from microwave oven and stir until smooth. Add bourbon and orange extract; mix thoroughly. Pour mixture into pan and chill until firm. Cut into squares.
BRANDY ALEXANDER CHOCOLATE SEASHORE FUDGE
4 cups granulated white sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
2 tbsp honey
1 cup unsweetened evaporated milk
6 tbsp butter or margarine
½ tsp salt
1 ounce brandy
1 ounce crème de cacao
2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate (2 oz.), melted
Butter inside surfaces of a 12 x 8-inch baking pan and set aside. Place ½-inch of cool water in sink.
Butter interior sides of
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Publisher: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG
Publication Date: 02-04-2018
ISBN: 978-3-7438-5458-1
All Rights Reserved
Dedication:
For my Girls - Violet, Debbie, and Ashley