I made fudge

[Hotcod]

Peanut butter fudge... tasty tasty peanut butter fudge as it happens. Don't ask why I decided to make fudge, I don't bake other than the odd cookies but these days every one is making cookies and cupcakes... I'm going to make fudge cool...

and no, i've not packed it

[Dorkandproudofit]

Can I have some?

[Wasson_]

bitches don't know shit about hotcod's fudge.

[Hotcod]

is so stupidly easy to make. 150g of butter melted in pan, add 500g of dark brown sugar and 120ml of milk... boil for 5 minutes... take off heat mix in 250g of peanut butter and some vanilla extract then pour over 250g of icing sugar mix and pour in to tray.

I think those are the right amounts but ya it's pretty much just sugar but it's tasty and takes all of 10 minutes or do

[Hawkzombie]

Damn. My son would be allergic to your fudge. Damn you to hell.

[Serapth]

It shocked me when I discovered ( aka, watched a tv show ) how incredibly easy to make caramel was. I always though it was made with voodoo and special super delicious tree sap from an endangered tibetan tree, but no... its just sugar, water, frozen water and a fuckton of patience.

[Hotcod]

You don't have to put peanut butter in at that point, from what I understand you can pretty much put anything or nothing at all in once it's been boiled and before you mix in the icing sugar

Ya caramel is tricky... what I do a lot is just get the sugar melting in a pan and then fry stuff like banana in it... not good for you but soooooooooo nice.

[johnperkins21]

The thing with fudge is making sure it's a consistent temperature (pretty much no electric stoves) and constantly stirring it. A candy thermometer helps, but is not necessary.

[KamaItachi]

You can make a good and easy Chocolate and pistachio fudge with condensed milk, cocoa and shopped nuts.

I'll dig out the recipe if anyone's interested when I get home. It's yummalicious

[Hotcod]

The thing with fudge is making sure it's a consistent temperature (pretty much no electric stoves) and constantly stirring it. A candy thermometer helps, but is not necessary.

actually as far as I can tell if you are using ice sugar at the end then you don't boil and stir, you just boil for a short time. Else you need to get a caramel to the right state where it will start to set it's self which is where boiling for ages stiring and using the ice water trick

[johnperkins21]

actually as far as I can tell if you are using ice sugar at the end then you don't boil and stir, you just boil for a short time. Else you need to get a caramel to the right state where it will start to set it's self which is where boiling for ages stiring and using the ice water trick

Ice sugar? Huh. That's a new one for me. I learned from my mother who was apparently unaware of this trick.

[TheKeck]

It's funny how in Europe they measure ingredients by weight. Funny to Americans where we do everything by volume anyway. We have a kitchen scale though because my wife has French habits.

[Hotcod]

ya I got confused looking at the recipes but it seems that in the ones where you end by "pouring over icing sugar" or something you tend to only boil the fudge for 4-5 minutes with out stirring. In the ones where you don't use icing sugar you boil for 20-30 minutes in kind of the same way you make caramel. I presume that they make different kinds of fudge and doing it the long hard way is the best way to do it

And well keck that's 'cus using volume is silly :P

[civil]

Damn. My son would be allergic to your fudge. Damn you to hell.
You better hope Hotcod is allergic to your son's fudge.

[johnperkins21]

and doing it the long hard way is the best way to do it.

Both my wife and mother agree on this point. Too bad I always have to do it the short, quick way. :o

[Inspector Fowler]

Both my wife and mother agree on this point. Too bad I always have to do it the short, quick way. :o

Whoooa....I mean....wife, yeah, but....did you just make "I do my mom the short quick way" joke? :eek:

Also, is "icing sugar" the same as "powdered sugar"? Because I have always made icing with powdered sugar and milk.

[Hotcod]

yup... also known by confectioner's sugar or something stupid too. Icing sugar is pretty much what it's always called in the UK since it's mostly used to make icing.

[ShivaX]

Milk, milk, lemonade around the corner Hotcod's fudge is made.

[Hotcod]

so I live next to two dairy farms and Lemon grove... what of it?

[TheKeck]

And well keck that's 'cus using volume is silly :P
If by "silly" you mean, "much easier and quicker". :p

[Drayven]

Actually weighing is more accurate because it's not affected by how much you pack things down and what not.

[TheKeck]

Actually weighing is more accurate because it's not affected by how much you pack things down and what not.
Well, I didn't list accuracy as one of the strengths of volume. :D

[Bingley Joe]

It's funny how in Europe they measure ingredients by weight. Funny to Americans where we do everything by volume anyway. We have a kitchen scale though because my wife has French habits.

A kitchen scale is so incredibly handy for so many things. But it's one of those things you can't really appreciate until you have one and start to use it. Ours never leaves the counter now.

[Hotcod]

If by "silly" you mean, "much easier and quicker". :p

It's no where near quicker or easier enough to make up for the fact that each time you measure something that way you are actually getting different amounts of the ingredient. Which is kinda silly as a way of measuring things. As an estimate it's fine, sure, but when you can get an actual measurement for a few moments more I have no idea why you wouldn't.

[Serapth]

Somewhat related, I hate when a recipe calls for "a cup of shredded cheese". I mean, if you pack it in, due to the malability of cheese, you can get 3 or 4 times more in.

[Hotcod]

joking aside I think that recipes should state the actual measures rather than using volume. If they want to state cups as well that's fair enough or if you want to use volume when making it... but it just seems silly not to have to actual intended amount of ingredient stated.

[Generation ABXY]

Somewhat related, I hate when a recipe calls for "a cup of shredded cheese". I mean, if you pack it in, due to the malability of cheese, you can get 3 or 4 times more in.

Yeah, but that doesn't make much sense in the first place. If you really pack it in, you'd have to wonder what the point of even specifying shredded was... I mean, do you think it adds to the flavor if the cheese had that glimpse of freedom and individuality first?

[Serapth]

Somewhat related, I hate when a recipe calls for "a cup of shredded cheese". I mean, if you pack it in, due to the malability of cheese, you can g

Yeah, but that doesn't make much sense in the first place. If you really pack it in, you'd have to wonder what the point of even specifying shredded was... I mean, do you think it adds to the flavor if the cheese had that glimpse of freedom and individuality first?


Actually it does. Shredded cheese melts easier and more consistently. The first recipe I ran into those instructions was to make the cheese sauce for Mac n cheese.

[Bingley Joe]

Somewhat related, I hate when a recipe calls for "a cup of shredded cheese". I mean, if you pack it in, due to the malability of cheese, you can get 3 or 4 times more in.

I'm having trouble understanding the problem with having more cheese ;)


Handy measuring trick: for measuring colloidal substances like butter or peanut butter, or indeed anything that doesn't float and isn't readily broken down or otherwise ruined by water (nuts, for example), you can use displacement to get accurate measurements.

Put a cup or two of cold water in your measuring cup and then add whatever it is you want to measure until the water level has risen by the amount called for in the recipe.

So for example, you need 1.5 cups of peanut butter. Put 2 cups of water in a measuring cup and add blobs of peanut butter until the level rises to 3.5 cups. Done. Pour out the water and retrieve your stuff.

Works like a charm. Extra bonus is that the cold water will keep the peanut butter (or whatever you're measuring) from sticking to everything and making a mess.

I haven't tried it with cheese, but it should work just fine with a solid block. Add a cup's worth of solid cheese and then grate it.. now you don't need to guess how densely to pack it :)

[Hotcod]

ooooooooooooor you could just weigh it...


;)

[Bingley Joe]

ooooooooooooor you could just weigh it...


;)

Yup, that would be simpler.

But (at least in North America), so many recipes only state quantities by volume, so the displacement trick works really well. Otherwise, you'd have to know how much a cup of peanut butter weighs, for example.. not common knowledge in the circles I run in ;)

[MagGnome]

I love fudge! It's been ages since I last had any though.

Hold off on the jokes, smartasses. :p

[Hawkzombie]

I love fudge! It's been ages since I last had any though.

Hold off on the jokes, smartasses. :p

What? I was just gonna ask your preferred method of packing said fudge.

[TheKeck]

joking aside I think that recipes should state the actual measures rather than using volume. If they want to state cups as well that's fair enough or if you want to use volume when making it... but it just seems silly not to have to actual intended amount of ingredient stated.

Ok now you're just exaggerating. Sure weight may be slightly more accurate but not enough to justify the pain of having to weigh everything. :p Saying that specifying volumes is not "the actual intended amount" is ridiculous.

Anyway, I hope the fudge was excellent. I love fudge, though I don't believe I've ever had peanut butter fudge. Sounds great.

[Bingley Joe]

Ok now you're just exaggerating. Sure weight may be slightly more accurate but not enough to justify the pain of having to weigh everything.

Weighing ingredients is really not that different from measuring them by volume though..

Weigh: get scale, put ingredients in receptacle, read quantity

Measure: get measuring cup, put ingredients in cup, read quantity

same/same really.


The beauty of the scale though is that no matter how much/little you're measuring, it's always reading with the same accuracy -- you just need to provide a receptacle big enough to hold your stuff.

With a measuring cup, you have to make sure you have one big enough to give you the right measure, or else you end up emptying multiple 'scoops' into a larger receptacle, which introduces many more measuring errors due to differences in packing and such...

Also, larger measuring cups (ie: 4 cup measures) tend to skip over the smaller gradations, meaning you need to guess if you've got 2 1/4 cups of flour in there. Or you need another measure to be more precise..

Bleh. I prefer a scale with a large receptacle on top over that any day. Even if/when you exceed the capacity of either the scale or the bowl (which is rare with a good kitchen scale), at least measuring extra ingredients is exactly as accurate as it was for the first batch.


That said -- FUDGE! Lovely stuff :) I actually had no idea it was so simple to make

[Hotcod]

Keck when some one is suggesting using water displacement to measure tricky ingredients in volume you really should give it up :P

[TheKeck]

Besides, if I tried to use the scale to measure everything I'd be screwed because recipes don't specify things in weight!! (in America) :p

[Hawkzombie]

Usually they just assume a few things. Brown Sugar you pack down, cheese you do not.

READ A GODDAMN BOOK!!

[Purple Santa]

What? I was just gonna ask your preferred method of packing said fudge.

I believe he answered that question in another thread not to long ago. Sometimes I think we know more about Mags than we should or be allowed to. :p

[MagGnome]

Did you really have to bring that up again? :p

[Hotcod]

So i've just finished making up a batch where the peanut butter was replaced with an equal amount of chopped up snicker bars... so we'll see how that turns out. Going to make some just plane stuff latter to see how that goes.

Also made some cookies, 3 chocchip and cherry :D

[MagGnome]

You'd make a fine wife. :D

[Hotcod]

the snickers thing didn't work out... should have added them as it was cooling so they didn't melt down. It's not bad but it's also not as nice as the last lot :( but the cookies are awesome.

And thank you mags... as it turns out I've got fuck all else going for me so I may as well train to be a house husband

[MagGnome]

I'm sure you'd be able to find a nice sugar daddy to take care of you. :D