Chocolate Fudge

Last week was not good. Not good at all. First, I was in the car for probably 20 hours over the weekend. But before that, my computer broke. Dead and gone. But now it's back thank goodness so I didn't have to get a confusing Windows 8 computer. And then this blog post got erased! And my phone is stupid with capitalizing and auto-correct and makes weird words and capitalized words like good and get. Stupid stupid stupid. So there I was, in the car, writing this post again since my computer was broken. And oh yeah, so is my air conditioning. Oh, and I was sick.

But fudge is good, right? Right. This fudge is pretty good. However, I made the mistake of making candy without having a candy thermometer. It wasn't the end of the world, though, since the recipe said that I could use the soft ball method, where you put some of the liquid into a bowl of cold water and if you can make a ball and flatten it when it comes out of the water, it's good. 

This isn't the absolute best video in the world, but I think that it shows a good soft ball stage. That's not my video by the way, it's schmeese66's!

Yeah, I didn't watch any videos on soft ball stage before I made it, so now I know that mine was totally not soft ball stage and that's most likely the reason why my fudge was not fudgey. Well, at least I know. Yeah, mine was way too soft, and I knew that right after I finished making it, but I didn't know why. Mission accomplished, sort of.

So I got a candy thermometer, and set out to make it again. And it worked SO much better! Seriously, if you can help it, get one. Or watch some videos first. Seriously.

Start with sugar, cocoa powder, and milk. Mix those in a pot and boil then simmer. Do that until your thermometer reaches 238 F (really just between 235 and 240, although I think that 240 is better).

Take it off the heat and add butter and vanilla. Maybe some salt too.

Stir until it's less glossy and thicker, and pour it in a pan. I lined the first batch with tin foil and the second with wax paper. It just makes it easier to get out of the pan. Make sure you have enough to lift off with.

Done!

Recipe (from here):

2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
(Any add-ins you may want)

Combine sugar, cocoa and milk in a medium saucepan. Stir to blend, then bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer. Do not stir again. Cook until the temperature reaches 238 degrees F(114 degrees C). If you are not using a thermometer, then cook until a drop of this mixture in a cup of cold water forms a soft ball. (The ball should flatten when pressed between your fingers.) Remove from the heat. Add butter and vanilla extract. Beat with a wooden spoon until the fudge loses its sheen. Do not under beat.

The recipe said that it would make about 60 squares, but I only got 36-40 and they were small. So.

In other news, I wanted to eat cherry pie filling this morning, but that's probably not a healthy choice, so I thought about putting it on a banana. But I didn't. And I didn't eat the filling straight either. Boo. 

In other other news, I was on Craigslist in the Free section a few days ago, and I saw a post for none other than... wait for it... FREE KITTENS!!!! Like, what? Free kittens? Yes! Free kittens! But, alas, I didn't get the free kittens. But it was so cool! Free kittens!