Chocolate Cashew Fudge

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day, and that peace and love came your way. I had a lovely day with my family, in fact, one of the best Christmas Days that I can remember. There was virtually no family conflict of any kind (hooray!), the food prepared by my mother was delicious and plentiful, and our time was spent together in harmony. What more can a girl ask?

Now it is Boxing Day, an official public holiday in Oz, and a perfect time to share with you another Christmas box recipe - this time, for chocolate cashew fudge. Personally, I am not a huge fudge fan, but I know that it is popular with many people (given that there are whole stores devoted to selling fudge!), so it was a "must have" in my gift boxes. I wanted to make fudge the old-fashioned way, without the assistance of condensed milk, so I used a recipe for chocolate fudge from The Australian Womens Weekly's Sweet as my base, and added cashew nuts to it.


This recipe was easy to make - as I mentioned in my previous post, I am not an experienced sweet maker, and I had no problems with this. The end result tasted good, although I cannot truthfully say that it is one of my favourite things for the aforesaid reason. There were no complaints about it from the recipients, so I am taking this as a positive :).

If you are at a loose end over the holidays and feel like making some chocolate fudge, the recipe is as follows:

1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
60g chopped dark chocolate
2 tablespoons glucose syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup whole milk
40g chopped butter
1/2 cup unsalted cashews (optional)

Grease a 15cm square tin and line with baking paper, leaving sufficient overhang so that you can use it to lift the fudge out of the pan once it's set.

Put the white sugar, brown sugar, chocolate, cream and milk in a saucepan and stir over heat on the stovetop until the sugar dissolves, then bring the mixture to the boil without stirring and allow to boil for around 10 minutes or until the mixture reaches 116 degrees Celsius on a candy thermometer.

Remove the saucepan from the stovetop, leaving the candy thermometer in the mixture, and place the chopped butter on top of the mixture, but do not stir it in.

Allow the mixture to cool on the bench to 40 degrees Celsius (around 20 minutes), then take out the candy thermometer. Add the cashews (or other nuts), if using, then stir the fudge with a wooden spoon for around 10 minutes or until the mixture holds its shape when a small piece is dropped onto a plate. Spread the fudge into the prepared tin, and cover the top of the tin with foil. Allow the fudge to set at room temperature for 3 hours or until the fudge sets.

Once the fudge has set completely, lift it out of the tin using the paper overhang, and cut it into squares of the desired size. Wrap as desired, or store in an airtight container.


My fudge was one of the elements in my Christmas gift boxes to friends and colleagues, which also contained one each of the following:

There was also rum balls and apricot balls, but they did not make the picture (because I forgot!). I packaged each piece in cellophane (or cling film when I ran out of cellophane :)), then put the pieces into medium sized noodle boxes:

Each person's box was tagged with a handmade felt star Christmas tree decoration, on which their name had been embroidered:

This project took longer to complete than I anticipated (I put together 28 of these boxes), but it was fun to plan and execute, and I was pleased with the end result. I'm not sure that I would do it again, at least on this scale, but it was definitely worth it.

Happy holidays to all!

Food in Colours - White - Almond Cherry and White Chocolate Nougat

I am on holidays at the moment, and I am loving it! I apologise in advance for not being a good blogger over the next couple of weeks. This week I am staying with my mother, who lives interstate, and then we are all going away to a coastal town where I will not have any computer access (although I hope to pre-program some posts to load while I am away). I wish you and your families a very merry Christmas, and a peaceful and happy New Year.

With the mad round of Christmas functions well and truly over, I can now share with you some more of the treats that I made for my colleagues and friends to put in their Christmas boxes. Today's post is all about Bill Granger's yummy almond, cherry and white chocolate nougat from Holiday, which also happens to tie in nicely with Yummy Food's hosting of Food in Colours - White. Food in Colours is a monthly event created by Tongue Ticklers.

Now, you are probably thinking that, apart from the rice paper on top of my nougat, it is brown. You would be correct - but it is supposed to be a glorious pristine white, hence why I am entering it in this event. I slightly overcooked the syrup used to make the nougat, so while it tasted very good and not the least burnt, it wasn't the wonderful winter white that it is supposed to be. So please dear readers, overlook the not-so-perfect colouration of my nougat, and instead imagine the wonderful sweetness and crispy yet chewy texture of this delightful sweet.

I was actually very proud of how this turned out. If you want to develop your biceps without going to the gym, then make plenty of this nougat, because it becomes very thick towards the end of the creation process, making it almost impossible to stir through the almonds, dried cherries and white chocolate chunks, and once it has set, it requires all of your strength to cut it into bite-sized squares. However, it is worth it - I had quite a few pieces of this left over from my Christmas parcels, and they all went down the hatch!

Rather than potentially trip you up with my re-hash of the recipe for this nougat, it is available online at the ABC's website here, or in the Sydney Morning Herald here (along with a lovely photo of what it should look like). Although the difficulty says "medium", I am not a sweet maker, and I had no problems with it, other than that I let the syrup cook a teensy bit too long. I can thoroughly recommend it - it is delicious.

You have until 31 December to make your own Food in Colour - White entry, and do check out the roundup of inventive wintry white dishes at Yummy Food after that.

TWD - Real Butterscotch Pudding

The penultimate TWD recipe for December is Real Butterscotch Pudding, chosen by Donna of the intriguingly named Spatulas, Corkscrews and Suitcases. I almost skipped this one, as I am currently on holidays at my mother's house, and she does not approve of my using her kitchen. However, I decided to run the gauntlet and make this pudding anyway, as I have a real sweet tooth and I therefore find anything with the word "butterscotch" in the title appealing.

I met with all kinds of issues in making this pudding. Apart from some unwanted parental supervision (I am over 30!), my brother insisted on standing in my work space, and an electrician came to install a safety switch in in the middle of proceedings, between my whisking the eggs and adding the hot liquid to it. Also, there are not six ramekins at my Mum's house, so I poured the pudding into one big dish, hoping for the best. I am not sure if any of these things had a bearing on the outcome, but 5 hours later, my pudding is like thickish custard, but it is definitely not set. It is pourable, and I think that if it doesn't set, it will taste perfect on my plum pudding on Christmas Day - kind of like brandy custard, except with rum (we don't have scotch in the house).

Although the result is far from perfect, I'm glad that I gave it a shot, and maybe I'll try it again, as what I have certainly tastes good, even if the consistency is not quite what it should be.

To check out how the other TWD bakers went, check out the TWD blogroll here.

TWD - Buttery Jam Cookies

This week's TWD is hosted by Heather of Randomosity and The Girl, who has selected Dorie's Buttery Jam Cookies.

These cookies are easy to make, and although not the prettiest girl at the dance, they taste good. I used apricot jam in mine as suggested by Dorie.

If the test of how good these are is how quickly the punters made them disappear, they were delicious. Looks aren't everything after all.

Thanks to Heather for hosting this week. You can check out the other TWD members' take on thse cookies at the TWD blogroll.

Pay It Forward - And the winners are ...

Hi to all, my apologies for being a little late with this post. I had Christmas drinks at my place yesterday afternoon and, well, this post just never happened when it should have.

However, this gave me the opportunity to seek the assistance of two lovely barrel boys and a barrel girl at work, who drew the following names from a hat (literally):

Gloria

Maria

The Blonde Duck

Congratulations to you, and thank you to everyone who was so kind as to drop by and comment on my post.

Could the three winners please email me their name and address details to me at gmiddle72 [at] gmail [dot] com so that (when you least expect it!) in the course of the next 365 days, I can send you your prize. And don't forget to Pay It Forward!

Seven Fishes Feast - Prawn, saffron and tomato risotto

Joe of Italyville and Maryann of Finding La Dolce Vita are hosting a new event, the Seven Fishes Feast. As both Joe and Maryann are of Italian heritage, they are sharing one of their Italian traditions with us through this event. The feast of the seven fishes is an Italian tradition. Every Christmas Eve, "the vigil" is kept with the custom of dining on 7 fish dishes as Italians await the birth of the Saviour at midnight.

To participate in this event, Joe and Maryann have asked us to create a fish or shellfish dish and post about it by December 18 - simple. In addition to the joy of participating, there are prizes to be won, so get cooking!

As luck would have it, a lovely prawn, saffron and tomato risotto was on my menu, with the recipe featuring on p40 of the December 2008 issue of BBC Australian Good Food. Tomatoes and prawns together is a wonderful flavour combination, and I had some good quality red saffron threads from my blogging friend, Ivy, that I could use. I bought New Zealand prawns and lovely fresh vine-ripened tomatoes from Prahran market. This dish was delicious - slightly spicy, but not so much as to overwhelm the delicate flavour of the prawns. The hardest part about preparing the dish is de-heading and deveining the prawns - never my favourite job.

To make this tasty yet simple risotto, you will need:

4 cups chicken stock
1 pinch saffron threads
40g butter
2 chopped garlic cloves
1 chopped onion
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
2 diced fresh tomatoes
12 large cooked prawns, de-headed, peeled and deveined (but tails intact to make them "pretty")
1/2 cup chopped parsley

Heat the stock and saffron in a large suacepan; bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low, leaving the stock over the heat.

Melt the butter in a large frypan, then add the onion and garlic and cook until softened. Add the rice and cook for 1 minute, stirring all the while.

Add 1 cup of stock from the simmering saucepan to the rice, and stir it until the stock has been absorbed by the rice. Repeat untl all of the stock has been added and the rice is tender. Add the tomato to the rice, and cook for a further 3 minutes until the tomato is soft. Add the prawns and toss thorugh the rice, cooking until the prawns are heated through (if your prawns were purchased cooked and are therefore cold). If you bought green (uncooked) prawns, you will need to cook them before adding them to the risotto.

Divide the risotto evenly between 4 plates and sprinkle with parsley before serving.

Thanks to Joe and Maryann for hosting this fun event!

Bon Voyage LB - Spangly sparkly marshmallow coconut cloud cupcakes

LB is an admin assistant who works for the lawyers at the mothership. LB is a lovely lady - bright, funny and a girly girl who loves fashion and pretty things. She is travelling to the US for the very first time (in fact, she will already be there), and will not return to work until mid-January.

As part of her grand tour across the US, LB intends to visit a few cupcake bakeshops, because she absolutely adores cupcakes. If you come across a bubbly young Aussie in a cupcake bakeshop near you, it may just be LB.

To wish LB well, I made her and her colleagues a batch of cupcakes that I thought she might really like - marshmallow coconut cloud cupcakes from The Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook by Jennifer Graham. To make these cakes even pinker and sparklier, I decorated them with pink conversation lollies, silver cachous and pink edible glitter. LB loved them - hooray! They were very good, but very sweet, as you can imagine. The recipe called for coconut milk, which I didn't have, so I substituted buttermilk and added coconut essence.



To make a full batch of 24 of these cupcakes (I only made a half batch) with my modifications, you will need:

3/4 cup dessicated coconut
2 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 eggs
3 egg whites
200g butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon coconut essence


Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line 2 x 12 hole muffin tins with cupcake papers.

Put the coconut in a food processor and process for around 4 minutes to make it very fine. Place the coconut in a bowl with the flour, baking powder and salt, and stir to combine.

In another bowl, combine the eggs and egg whites, but do not beat.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs slowly and beat in until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla essence.

Stir the coconut essence through the buttermilk. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and milk alternately to the batter in 3 batches, starting and ending with the flour mixture.

Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake papers, and bake for approximately 20 minutes. Remove the cakes from the oven and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the marshmallow frosting, you will need:

3 egg whites
480g white sugar
3 teaspoons light corn syrup (I used maple syrup and it was fine, but frosting was not as stiff)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
150ml water
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
pink food colouring

In a heatproof bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the flavouring and colouring. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water so that the bowl is not touching the water, and beat the frosting continuously with an electric mixer until it becomes light and fluffy and forms soft peaks.

Remove the frosting from the heat and stir through the vanilla and colouring to the desired hue. Whisk the frosting until it forms stiff peaks, and transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes, starting at the outside edge and working into the middle in a circular motion, finishing with a central peak. Decorate as desired.

These cupcakes are ever so cute, and very yummy. They would be perfect for a little girl's birthday or a big girls' afternoon tea - and even the boys enjoyed them.

Before I go, I wanted to mention that I am one of the lucky winners of Natalia's (Gatti Fili E Farina) "Pay It Forward" competition, where the prize is a homemade treasure by Natalia. The great thing about being a winner is that you have to be willing to do the same.

Here is an explanation of the concept and the rules from Natalia:

"There are so many lovely giveaways in blogland, bloggers eagerly commenting and abuzz with the excitement of winning an unexpected gift, but that’s it. Someone wins, and then the generosity comes to a screeching halt and we go on with our lives. Nice, but lacking in momentum. This giveaway is a little different, however, because the “receivers” are also to become “givers”, if you will. In fact, that’s the most important rule of the game…

The rules are simple: I will send three people who leave a comment on this post a handmade gift within the next 365 days. I am willing to post anywhere in the world, so don’t let that stop you from commenting.

The catch is that you must have a blog and be willing to do the same thing…"

On that note, if you would like to participate, please leave a comment on this post between now and 8am Australian Eastern Standard Summertime on Sunday, 14 December 2008 (which will be sometime on Saturday for most people in the Northern Hemisphere). I will put the name of everyone who comments during that time into a hat, and the first three names drawn (to be announced sometime the same day) will receive a homemade treasure from me over the course of the next 365 days. Have fun!