My last dalliance with fudge was over a year ago and was a resounding flop. I didn’t own a digital thermometer back then so when I boiled my fudge to the “soft ball” stage I was testing by hand and obviously got it completely wrong so the resulting fudge never set and was more like thick wet fondant icing – a very sorry state of affairs! So when the makers of the Thermapen 4 Digital Thermometer asked if I’d like to come up with a recipe to put it through its paces I knew exactly what I had to make – fudge! But then came the next big question, what sort of fudge should I make, the possibilities are endless. I didn’t have to wait long for inspiration as a trip up the sweet aisle in my local supermarket led me to the chocolate bars, one of which was a Rocky Road one covered in mini marshmallows plus plain and white chocolate chips!
Which ever way you hold the Thermapen 4 up the display will be the right way up!
Back home I devised my fudge recipe which I wanted to be creamy and slightly soft ie not a crumbly so to help with this most of my marshmallows were going to be melted into the fudge along with the milk chocolate. What resulted was my kids coming in from school with the first one (my daughter) giving my Rocky Road Fudge 10 out of 10 and then my son came in and gave it 11 out of 10! So a resounding success, the only trouble is it’s so very morish, you really have to be strict with yourself (and your hubby)! This fudge would be great for handing out at a Bonfire Night Party, Halloween or wrapped in cellophane with a bow for Christmas presents.
But how did the Thermapen 4 perform I hear you cry! Well what can I say, it’s little wonder that it’s the UK’s number 1 selling food thermometer! I had a digital thermometer which was just a stick so could never have used it for testing hot sugar but with the Thermapen 4 the design allows you to pivot the probe at an angle or fully extend it. Hence in order to keep my fingers away from the extremely hot bubbling fudge I angled the Thermapen 4 to 90º so that my hand was on the outside of the pan while the probe was quickly measuring the temperature inside the pan (3 seconds is all it takes which is super fast). Best of all the temperature reading lights up in dark conditions and flips to the correct way up which ever way you hold it (a bit like a mobile phone only it covers 4 ways up rather than just 2). I put the Thermapen 4 down without closing it back up and later went back to it worrying that I’d drained the battery. I needn’t have worried though as it has a built in sleep function and wakes up as soon as you pick it up again! And if all this wasn’t enough it’s also waterproof so getting splashed in the kitchen isn’t going to be a problem and it comes in a whole range of funky colours so you’ll never loose it! All in all I’d give the Thermapen 4 10 out of 10 as it ticks all the boxes for functionality and is incredibly user friendly.
Would you believe that as I sit here writing this post I just looked up to see the Thermapen 4 being used on the Great British Bake Off to help with tempering chocolate!
Rocky Road Fudge using the Thermapen 4 Digital Thermometer
Ingredients
- For the fudge:
- 450 g Granulated sugar
- 150 g Unsalted butter
- 150 mls Semi-skimmed milk
- 100 g Good quality milk or dark chocolate broken up
- 50 g Golden syrup
- 100 g Digestive biscuits or any other, chopped into mini marshmallow sized pieces
- 50 g Mini marshmallows
- For the decoration:
- Handful plain chocolate chips
- Handful white chocolate chips
- Handful mini marshmallows
Instructions
- Grease a 20 x 24.5cm tin with butter and line it with a single sheet of greased parchment allowing a few centimetres of overhang (to use as handles when removing the fudge).
- Place the sugar, butter, milk, chocolate and golden syrup into a large heavy based saucepan.
- Heat gently and stir until all the sugar has dissolved (you will hear it scratching against the bottom of the pan with your wooden spoon if it hasn't).
- Bring the mixture to the boil and then boil gently for 10 minutes or until it reaches the “soft ball” stage of 116ºC on your food thermometer (has to be suitable for sugar).
- Once this stage is reached remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool for 5 minutes.
- Add the biscuit pieces and the marshmallows and beat until the mixture starts to look thick and almost grainy.
- Pour the fudge into the greased tin and even out the surface with a plastic spatula.
- Scatter mini marshmallows over the top pressing down with your hand.
- Then scatter the plain and white chocolate chips over the top and allow to cool.
- Once cool remove the fudge from the tin using the parchment “handles” and cut into even sized pieces. (I made 30 but you could make more by cutting smaller).
- Then store in an airtight container where it should keep for at least 2 weeks.
Making the parchment longer than you need makes removing the fudge easy!
I asked some fellow bloggers for their recipe ideas using a thermometer:
Morello Cherry & Raspberry Jam – The Veg Space
Mississippi Mud Cake with Raspberry Italian Meringue Buttercream – Casa Costello
Rum & Sultana Fudge – United Cakedom
Damson & Redcurrant Jam – BakingQueen74
Baileys, Pistachio and Cranberry Fudge – Foodie Quine
Double Raspberry Macarons – Supergolden Bakes
As this fudge contains three types of chocolate I am entering it into this month’s We Should Cocoa where the theme is USA which is run by Tin & Thyme and hosted this month by It’s not easy being greedy.
NB: This is a commissioned post for Electronic Tempurature Instruments, all opinions are my own.
Def will try this,as love Rocky Road in our family x
It’s so good Amy:-)
This looks wonderful, I bet the texture is gorgeous!
It was the best fudge I’ve ever had:-)