Cooking with kids along with GREAT classical music. Here the great Horowitz plays Polonaise Op. 53 in A flat major. My cousin John Brittan – an amazing pianist who played in South Africa with the symphony orchestra – used to play this for me on request – amazing memories of this incredible music ringing through my home on the Bechstein concert grand piano that I inherited and now resides in my living room. And which my grandson Jack plays – and will inherit when I am gone. That piano has such a history – for another day and another blog….. in the meantime – to FUDGE WE GO!
How to make 5-Minute Fudge, cooking with kids and listening to great music – makes for a wonderful treat!
This fudge is so easy that it’s ridiculous. Just mix it up in a bowl, stick it in the microwave to melt the chocolate, and pour it into a pan. What’s really ridiculous is that it tastes like stovetop, from scratch fudge. It has great flavor and a nice texture.
It has three key ingredients: Chocolate, cocoa, and baking soda. The sweetener comes from a can of sweetened condensed milk.
The combination of the baking soda and cocoa changes the character of the fudge. The baking soda is a base and the cocoa is slightly acidic. Together they create a chemical reaction that produces carbon dioxide and reduces acidity. The change in acidity alters the flavor and the reaction changes the texture of the fudge.
The chocolate. Your fudge is not going to be any better than the chocolate you use. We used our own brand of dark (semi-sweet) chocolate wafers and it was perfect. We also made a batch with chocolate chips. It was good but not as good. Wafers are made for candy making and are smoother and have a better mouth feel than do chocolate chips.
The cocoa. The cocoa absorbs moisture and, along with the baking soda, makes the fudge lighter in texture.
You could make this with eith Ramstadt Breda Dark Cocoa or Ramstadt Breda Medium Dark Cocoa. Both are very good cocoas but they have different flavors. Both made great fudge but I preferred the fudge made with medium cocoa. I was surprised in how much difference there was between the two batches. Of course we get all our special baking ingredients from our affiliate Prepared Pantry.
The soda. Don’t leave it out. It is critical to the success of the fudge. I think you’ll be delighted with this fudge. Use good quality chocolate and cocoa and I think you’ll like every batch but experiment with different brands until you find the perfect fudge.
Five Minute Microwave Fudge Recipe
Ingredients
16 ounces Prepared Pantry Dark Chocolate Wafers or equal (With these wafers, this is a scant three cups.)
1/4 cup Ramstadt Breda Medium Dark Cocoa or equivalent
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon Madagascar vanilla extract or other quality vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
- Line an 8 x 8-inch pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
- Place all the ingredients except for the nuts in a medium-sized microwave safe bowl. Stir together.
- Cook the mixture in the microwave at reduced power and in short intervals, stirring between intervals, until the chocolate is almost melted. Remove the bowl from the microwave and continue stirring until the chocolate is completely melted. Fold in the nuts.
- Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the prepared pan. Refrigerate until set. After it is set, grab the edges of the foil or parchment paper and lift the block of candy from the pan. Cut the candy into squares with a sharp knife.
