Here is my first Optimal Health4Kids guest blog recipe for this month/year 2014, to take us to the Autumn… and, for those little helpful hands?.. although I don’t want to make this a political platform, I would like dedicate this post this month, which is a blog predominantly for children – to all the children caught up in conflicts of any kind, around the world, at the moment .. thank you..
..this may not be the healthiest recipe nutritionally, but if enjoyment is healthy- and you will get a lot of enjoyment in the making and especially in the eating of this recipe – then perhaps we can overlook the sugar content this time…
“Grainy” Vanilla Fudge
Fudge is a sweet which carries with it a certain nostalgia for me and for most I think. There is something very homely about fudge and very home made. It has to be grainy in our family – so the beating in of the sugar before cooling is muscle building and works off a few calories, but its worth it – you will end up with a grainy, more crunchy texture which I believe, is the way traditional fudge – like my mother used to make it (!) – should be. Do be careful if children are in the kitchen helping you with this cooking – like all sugar when heating, it remains extremely hot for a long time, and at “caramel stage” it sticks, so has always to be handled carefully – please refer to health and safety in the kitchen (my first Optimal Health4Kids blog) – “caramel stage” is a stage on from the fudge stage.. if you reach this with large brown, slow-popping bubbles in the pan, you will know you have over done it, which is where the ‘soft ball stage’ comes in useful (see later in the recipe*).
Enjoy…
Makes 2.5 lb (1 kg 150g) Time taken: just over an hour
Ingredients
2 lbs (900g) granulated sugar
1/2 pint (3 dl) water
1 large tin sweetened condensed milk
2 oz (50g) butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Method
– measure the sugar and water into a large saucepan
– stir over low heat unil the sugar has dissolved
– add the condensed milk and the butter
– bring the mixture up to the boil
– simmer gently
– stir occasionally, until a little dropped into a saucer of cold water forms a soft ball *
(It takes about 30 minutes and by this time the mixture should have turned to a golden brown)
– draw the pan off the heat, cool for a moment, then stir in the vanilla essence, then beat with a wooden spoon, until the mixture cools and begins to thicken. This “grains” the mixture and gives a smooth texture but take care that the fudge does not set in the saucepan.
– pour into a buttered, shallow, baking or small roasting tin and set in a cool place to harden
– once the surface has set, mark the fudge into squares
It may take a couple of hours to set firmly, before you can then turn it out and then break it into the squares.
* tip – if you prefer, you could use a sugar thermometer – which must reach 240 F
Chocolate fudge with nuts (optional) notes to follow – using single cream.
OptimalHealth4Kids 
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