How to make Fudge (without cooking sugar)

To put it simply: I like fudge. However it gets a little embarrassing when I get recognised at the local sweet shop and they know exactly what flavour I want and how much of it so I decided to start making my own. 

I began researching it, but all the recipes I found involved a sugar thermometer which I didn't have so I gave up hope. Then I found this recipe. 

Original Recipe

Ingredients:

• 75g Unsalted (Sweet) Butter (Margarine also works)
• 4 Tablespoons Condensed Milk
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 400g Icing (Confectioner's) Sugar
• 25g Cocoa Powder (Hot Chocolate Powder also works)

1.) In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, condensed milk and vanilla extract until smooth. (You may want to hold your breath as condensed milk can whiff a bit.)

 2.) Next, sift the icing/confectioner's sugar and cocoa powder into the mixture until it is smooth. Do this in small quantities until you have mixed in all the sugar and cocoa powder. Towards the end it will get harder to stir it in, but persevere and it will work. You may also have to use your hands as well as a spoon.

3.) Work the fudge which should now be solid, into a ball.

 4.) Dust your work surface with icing/confectioner's sugar and roll out your fudge ball to a thickness of about 2cm. (It depends on what you want to do with your fudge.)

 What do next can differ. You can chop it into cubes or you can use cutters to get different shapes which is what is good about this recipe. (You can guess which method I prefer)

 You can eat the fudge at this stage or you can put it on a baking tray to leave to harden in a cool place.

Variations:

• I made used half quantities for this tutorial so the amounts may look quite small.
• To make different flavours, swap the Vanilla Extract for a different flavouring and add an extra 25g of Icing Sugar to compensate for the loss of Cocoa Powder. If adding colouring and flavouring also add more icing sugar, otherwise the consistency will be too soft.
• I made this last year for some Christmas presents and I completely forgot that there wasn't any butter or cocoa powder at home so I ended up using margarine and hot chocolate powder and surprisingly it worked like the original which made me very happy.

How to make Melon Bread

Contrary to its name Melon Bread does not contain any melon at all. Instead, the name derives from the shape, but some versions may contain melon. It consists of a bread dough surrounded by a biscuit dough. Melon Bread originates from Japan where I first ate it. In Japan it is named Melon Pan as Pan is the Japanese word for bread. Over the two weeks I stayed in Japan I ate so much that I missed it when I came home so I researched recipes and ended up adapting two to make mine.

Ingredients:

Bread Dough:

• 400g Strong White Bread Flour
• 14g Dried Yeast
• 40g Unsalted Butter/Margarine
• 60g Caster Sugar
• 6g Salt
• 1 Egg
• 230ml of Lukewarm Water

Biscuit Dough:

• 300g Plain Flour
• 100g Unsalted Butter/Margarine
• 125g Caster Sugar
• 1 Egg

1.) Sieve 400g of Strong White Bread Flour into a mixing bowl, add the yeast and salt and mix.

2.) Add one egg and mix in before adding the lukewarm water in small amounts to ensure a smooth consistency.

3.) Knead the bread dough that should have been formed for 10 minutes until it becomes smoother and easier to work with.

4.) Sprinkle 60g of Caster Sugar on top of the dough and continue to knead until it becomes smooth again.

5.) Dice the butter/margarine into chunks and place them on top of the dough and work them into the dough until it becomes smooth again and the butter/margarine chunks are not visible.

6.) Shape the bread dough into a ball and leave to prove in a warm place for an hour. Whilst you are waiting you can make the biscuit dough.

7.) Cream together butter/margarine and sugar until the colour becomes paler.

8.) Add the egg and mix until smooth.

9.) Sift the plain flour into the mixture in small amounts and stir it in until the flour is no longer visible.

10.) Take the bread dough and knead it into six small balls. Do the same for the biscuit dough. 

The balls at the top of the photo are the biscuit dough and the ones at the bottom are the bread dough.

11.) Roll out each ball of biscuit so it becomes flat. Wrap the sheet of biscuit dough around the ball of bread dough, ensuring that it does not tear. Using the back of a knife, cut the surface of the biscuit dough into a lattice, taking care not to actually cut the dough. Sprinkle some extra caster sugar on top the the melon bread and do the same for the other 5. 

12.) Place the six melon breads onto a baking tray and bake in the oven at Gas Mark 4/ 180°C for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. 

13.) Leave to cool before eating.

How to make Pocky

Pocky is a Japanese sweet snack consisting of a biscuit stick coated in a sweet substance which is normally chocolate, but there are many other flavours available as I found out when I went to Japan.

I don't know about any other countries, but Pocky (marketed in Europe as Mikado) is very expensive and only the standard flavours are available in supermarkets with a box costing £1.40 which is a lot compared to the cost of other similar sweet treats. In Japan it is fairly readily available, but the craze is over as I only found a small range of flavours. In a frozen yoghurt shop I went to it was available as a topping.

As I love Pocky and hated the price and occasionally wished that there was more of a choice of flavours rather than just plain chocolate and white I decided to attempt to make it myself. I adapted this recipe to fit my specifications :http://www.notquitenigella.com/2008/12/01/pocky-christmas-forest-white-christmas-dark-christmas-chili-chocolate-honeycomb-and-green-tea-pocky/

Interestingly it was the only one available at the time that I wanted to make it, but now there are lots online.

The recipe makes about 65 sticks, however it depends on the thickness of your sticks.

There are other ways to decorate the sticks besides the ones stated in the following tutorial. I have also tried using icing sugar, flavouring and water which worked well and I have also ground up sugary powdery sweets like Refreshers and Parma Violets and added icing sugar and water.

Tutorial:

Ingredients:

• 105g Strong White Bread Flour *
• 80g Plain Flour *
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt *
• 13g Icing/ Confectioner's sugar *
• 6g Dried or Fast Action Yeast
• 65ml Lukewarm milk
• 25g Honey
• Zest of 1/4 of an Orange
• 25g Unsalted butter/Margarine
• 60ml of Water

*= Dry ingredients

1.) Mix the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl or in a food processor.

2.) In a small bowl, stir the yeast and the lukewarm milk together.

3.) Add the honey, milk and yeast to the dry ingredients and mix them together.

4.) Add the butter/margarine, zest and water to this mixture and stir to form a dough.

5.) Wrap the dough in plastic wrap (clingfilm) and refrigerate for the minimum of an hour.

6.) Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/ 180°C. Take the dough out of the fridge and knead until smooth. Roll it out so it is about 4mm thick.

7.) Cut the dough into strips with a sharp knife and roll them a little so they are pocky shaped rather than flat strips of dough. If the dough becomes too sticky, dust your work surface with a little flour.

8.) Place your pocky sticks on a greaseproof papered baking tray and put in the oven. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until brown. As always, cooking times will vary, in this case due to the thickness of the sticks. If they are light coloured they will be too soft and will not snap properly. 

10.) Decorating time!

Melt the chocolate that you are using in a heatproof bowl above a saucepan of boiling water (bain marie). Use a spoon to coat the pocky sticks with chocolate.

11.) Sprinkle your pocky with some cake decorations. Anything will work as long as it is light and small. Leave the decorated pocky in the fridge for an hour to cool and harden the chocolate.

12.) After an hour has passed they are fit for consumption (if you don't mind making a mess when you eat don't bother with waiting.)