Chocolate Macadamia Fudge

“Creamy fudge and roasted nut with a chocolate hit.”

Chocolate Macadamia Fudge

Ingredients

  • 160g macadamia nuts (shelled)
  • 100g clotted cream (get the best available)
  • 350g golden caster sugar
  • 1sp vanilla paste
  • 300ml full cream milk

Makes approx. 80 pieces (depending on on how you chop them up).

Inspiration

Basic fudge

Fudge can be incredibly moorish, especially the clotted cream version I’ve had on holiday in Devon and Cornwall. Since then, I’ve been trying to make my own version of clotted cream fudge. It has something of a rep for being fiddly to make, and well, I like a challenge.

So it proved. I found a handful of recipes online for it, but I found all too often it was too soft at room temperature, and was more like a ganache for a cake. Essentially I was swapping the butter in these for clotted cream (to give it the fat content) for a creamier taste. I’m sure it shouldn’t bend when you pick it up.

Chocolate version

Finally hit on a version that just about held up. I’d reduced the clotted cream content and had more milk to compensate. As I’m down tools on the chocolate while it’s so hot in the UK (and working on the website), I made a chocolate version and see how it tasted. Simply adding 100g of cocoa to the original recipe that was successful above, and reducing the amount of clotted cream, was the idea here.

Going nuts

For something a little extra, I rummaged through The Foundry nut collection, and turned out some macadamias that I’d been meaning to use for a while. Now, if I’m going to go nutty, I like to roast ‘em first. It seems to bring out an intensity and different character to them.

The result – bam! Seriously chocolatey fudge, with a strong macadamia taste and aroma. These are very rich, and probably have enough calories in to power a small village for a day, but they go so well either on their own, or with a cup of coffee.

Instructions

Prepare the nuts

  1. Roast the macadamias on a tray at 170C (fan oven) for approx. 14 mins (or until golden brown). Do not allow them to go too dark as they will burn.
  2. Put these to one side to allow them to cool, then tip the nuts out onto a chopping board.
  3. Try not to eat them. They smell and taste amazing at this stage!
  4. Roughly chop them into small chunks. Try not to leave any nuts whole, but don’t be too fussed about it, you want chopped but not power (don’t blitz them).

Make the fudge

  1. Prepare an 18cm square tin by lining it with baking paper (this makes the fudge easier to lift out later).
  2. Put the milk, cream and sugar all into a saucepan. Heat on low heat, and stir constantly to make all the sugar dissolve
  3. Take the heat up just a little and continue to stir. Eventually it will start to bubble.
  4. You need to heat and stir this for 15-20 minutes, aiming to reach 115C at that time. It will gradually go more golden in colour and may bubble up a lot. Take your time and allow the temperature to gradually increase. If it looks like it’s going to bubble over, take the pan off the heat and allow it to settle down again, before returning to the heat.
  5. When you hit 115C, take the pan off the heat and allow to cool for 5 mins.
  6. Add the vanilla paste and stir it in, then the cocoa and stir in thoroughly.
  7. Drop in the macadamia nuts you prepared ealier.
  8. Beat the mixture like mad, until it’s almost too difficult to move. This can leave you with a dead arm, so get some help so you can have a rest now and again.
  9. Press into the tin. Try to flatten it with your hands as best you can, and push it into the corners.
  10. Allow to cool at room temperature, then put in the fridge for 1hr to firm up.
  11. Remove from the fridge, put on a chopping board. Chop into little squares as big as you like with a sharp knife.

Next Time

Try a little more clotted cream next time. It was quite an effort to beat the mixture, and they did come out a little dry. Also the chocolate was perhaps a little too intense. I’d take it down a notch by perhaps cutting the cocoa amount in half. That said, it’s likely to keep a long time due to the low water content.