- Hey everybody.
You're watching Preppy Kitchen where I,
John Kanell, teach you how to make delicious
homemade dishes to share with your family and friends.
I'm heading to a new parent mixer today
and my contribution to the snack table is chocolate fudge.
Gonna be wrapping it up in cute
little parchment bundles like this.
But more importantly, the recipe is beyond easy.
It's not like those other chocolate fudges
that you might have been frustrated with.
It comes together in a snap, just a couple ingredients,
and it's basically foolproof.
Let's get started.
If you haven't noticed, I am still in the rental house.
The remodel is progressing along.
I'm really looking forward to that new kitchen.
In the meantime, you're gonna be prepping your baking dish.
Now, you have a couple options here.
You could prep with parchment paper like I'm gonna do.
You could use plastic wrap or foil.
I just feel like the paper is maybe a bit more eco friendly,
so I'll be going with that option.
You do not, by the way,
do not prep your dish after your fudge has started.
Because the fudge will set up quickly,
and you don't want to be, like,
frantically racing around the kitchen
trying to get something done while it's slowly solidifying.
It's not a good place to be in.
Start off with your baking dish.
Dollop a little bit of butter
or you could even spray some oil.
Just a tiny bit,
because this is the glue that will hold on your paper.
If you're using foil or plastic,
you can pretty much just set it in.
For plastic you could even spray maybe,
like, a little bit of water if you want and just,
it'll suck the plastic in there.
For parchment paper, it needs that glue.
And I just cut some slits in the side.
And you can now press it in really nicely.
And this is where your fudge will be poured in
and it'll come out like that.
Okay.
Setting it aside now, let's talk about the chocolate.
You have a couple options here.
You could use semisweet, which is pretty sweet,
if we're gonna be honest here.
Bittersweet, which is, I like bittersweet chocolate,
but it's too bitter for some people.
So I'll be using half bittersweet and half semisweet
and as much bar as I can.
This needs a good chop though.
So in this bowl I have 12 ounces, or about 340 grams,
two cups to cover all our measurement bases,
of bittersweet chocolate chips.
Ah.
Here I have three bars, or 12 ounces,
two cups, 340 grams of semisweet baking chocolate.
This will get a nice rough, careful chop.
It'll just help it melt much more quickly.
My main concern is the chocolate seizing because it burns.
So I want to have a nice low heat.
And the smaller the pieces are,
the more quickly they melt, the more surface area there is,
and everyone's life is made easier.
So, fudge is so luxurious and
a favorite treat of mine.
You can add in basically anything you want.
I would love some, hmm,
I mean, I'd love some pecans in mine.
But I think I'll leave this batch plain
so it'll be everyone's favorite
and there will be no nut allergy situations at school.
All these shards, just by the way,
are reminding me of "The Dark Crystal,"
one of my favorite movies as a child.
Please.
If you've seen it.
My husband does not like Muppets
and refuses to see a Netflix reboot.
I'm a little bit crestfallen.
Okay, that's super good.
What we're gonna do now is add
the semisweet and bittersweet chocolate
into a nice good pot.
Having good pots is such an investment.
And you don't have to get copper pots.
I just think they're pretty and I enjoy polishing them.
But you do want to get a pot that has
a thick wall and a heavy bottom.
Because the heat gets distributed evenly.
And when you buy, like, the cheaper pots,
one, the cheaper pots that have the
really thin sides will scorch your food.
Because the metal on the side is so thin,
it gets really hot and doesn't distribute the heat evenly.
No one likes burnt food.
Higher quality, it's totally worth it.
Set that guy to the side.
And now what are we gonna do?
Just melt this?
No, no, no.
It gets added to some sweetened condensed milk.
Two cans, which is like 28 ounces.
This stuff is the business in your coffee in the morning,
if you ever need a little special treat.
If you want to make dulce de leche
for a dulce de leche cake,
I have a couple of those on the blog and they are heavenly.
You just cook this in boiling water
and this kind of caramelizes and turns into
that magical, amazing milky treat.
I'm adding in an optional teaspoon
of instant espresso right now.
It really brings out the chocolate flavor.
It does not taste like coffee.
It sounds counterintuitive, but trust me on this one.
All right.
We will be stirring this as it is on heat.
Let's go to the stove right now and have some good times.
So you really want this towards the lower end of medium low.
Make sure to kind of, like,
scrape the bottom with your spatula,
'cause that's where the chocolate's getting the hottest.
You want a nice silky mixture.
You're basically making a delicious ganache.
Think of it that way.
Yeah, here you can see the difference
in the quality of the pot.
Because look, I'm touching the sides and it's still,
it's just warm.
That's what I want.
A nice warm pot.
When you're melting this,
don't feel like everything has to be melted
before you take it off the heat.
'Cause this is retaining a lot of internal heat right now.
So we're gonna melt a lot of the chocolate
and then take it off heat and let it get nice and silky.
I like chocolate to have, like, a little bit of a bite,
so I'm adding in a sprinkle of salt as well.
Again, I'm gonna pull it off the heat now
and just continue to stir for a little bit,
'cause it looks like it's getting really close.
All right, so I'm glad I took that chocolate off heat.
When I did, gonna add in two teaspoons of vanilla.
That's optional too.
But I never say no to vanilla.
If you don't like vanilla, use some bourbon or brandy.
It also tastes delicious and gives it a kick.
Oh my gosh.
Check out my click up here.
My chocolate brandied truffles.
Those are amazing.
So good.
Okay.
Here we have our beautiful fudge.
I'm gonna transfer this in now.
This is testing all of my wrist strength.
So it's settin' up.
Just scrape the rest off of the bottom.
The rest you can pick at and enjoy on your own time.
Give it a little bit of a smooth.
Does not have to be perfect.
But you want it to be kind of even
so you when you cut it you get nice uniform pieces.
Oh boy.
I've got to admit, I'm a little bit nervous
because some of the parents have heard of Preppy Kitchen.
And now the pressure is on.
So like, anything I deliver for a bake sale
or a mixer or snacks has to be on point.
Otherwise you know there's gonna be some small town gossip.
That's pretty smooth.
Now the problem is, this has to wait.
I can't just eat this by the spoonful.
You actually could eat it by the spoonful,
but fudge is supposed to be a solid.
I'm gonna pop a paper towel on top just to keep it safe,
set it aside, and let it set completely.
Then we'll cut it and enjoy.
Okay.
My fudge was cooling for an hour or so.
It depends on how hot it is outside.
So if it's a cold day, cool down a bit quicker.
Can you toss it in the fridge?
Yes you can.
All right.
So, peel the paper back,
or whatever the backing you used is,
just to kind of get it started.
Don't try and yank it out like this,
because your fudge is actually pretty soft still,
so it'll kind of bend it and mangle it.
So just pull back gently like you're handling a little baby.
All right, and now we're gonna invert it onto,
whoa, it's slippery.
Slipper suckers.
Okay.
Now we're gonna invert it on here.
Okay.
This is not like a treat that has to look perfect.
It's fudge.
And by the by, this easy fudge is
so much easier than a lot of other fudges.
Chocolate really can go crazy with the crystallization.
If you've heard of chocolate tempering,
it's like dissolving the crystals,
reforming the crystals so it tempers and has a nice snap.
Something similar happens with fudge
and you have to be careful.
But with this easy recipe, you don't have to worry.
You just have to do this, do that, and you're done.
Okay.
Let's just give it a nice cut.
You can cut these into any size pieces that you like.
Imagine what bite size is for your family.
And then they can be enjoyed immediately.
You can pop 'em onto a cookie platter
or you can wrap them individually
and use them as little cute gifts.
Okay, so my fudge is a little soft right now.
I just want to tell you that.
I didn't jump the gun.
It's cuttable right now.
But the last time I made this, I like,
it was rock hard in the fridge
and much more difficult slash cleaner to cut.
So it was harder,
so it took more force to cut,
but it also cut really cleanly.
And yes, if you didn't have your plastic,
your whatever backing in this container,
it would have been impossible to get out.
You would have been so sad.
Lordy.
If you have a better way to cut fudge,
let me know in the comments.
Like, pizza cutter?
I don't know.
Mm.
This is gonna be a treat.
I've gotten a lot of questions
on the blog about how to wrap fudge.
So let me show you real quick.
All you have to do is cut a piece of paper
that is long enough to wrap around one side
and then the other side comes up
a little bit more than halfway.
So, just like wrapping a Christmas present,
except there's chocolate inside.
There we go.
And this would work even better with waxed paper.
Oh my God, if I had a little bow for this,
that would be so cute.
Georgina is like, you've lost your mind.
(laughing)
Okay, there we go.
So this definitely works better with waxed paper, I think.
But here we have our little wrapped piece of fudge.
How cute is that?
It's like a little parcel of chocolate.
I think I'm gonna wrap up a bunch for the parents
so they can have a little unwrapping moment
and not worry about chocolatey fingers in public.
Since it's a new parent mixer,
nobody wants to be embarrassed, especially me.
In the meantime, I get to have one for a bite.
But if you like this recipe,
head over to my chocolate cupcake.
Oh my goodness.
They are fantastically amazing.
So good.
All right.
Mm.
Oh my gosh.
Hello friend.
(laughing)
You're coming to the mixer with me.
This is so good.
Look at that bite.
It is (chomping)
and it melts in your mouth
with all this chocolatey amazingness.
Ah.
Drool, drool, drool.
All right.
Thanks so much for watching.
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