Smokin’ Fudge Recipe

Smoking is back! It seems that there is a new breed of smoker about, the type that smoke their own food, using woodchips and anything as simple as a cardboard box. I haven’t yet tried it out for myself, but after a recent Twitter chat with Marcus from
 www.countrywoodsmoke.wordpress.com he very kindly sent me some smoked butter to try out. Marcus is master of smoking round these parts. He is already well known amongst foodie bloggers and will smoke anything from butter to salmon to mutton. If you can eat it, he can smoke it.

He gently cold smoked the butter using apple and beech woodchips, sounds good already doesn’t it?! When it arrived the smell was divine, in fact I keep going to the fridge for another sniff….

I already knew exactly what to try out first… Smoked Fudge….

So fudge made, now the taste test begins. Adults love it, it is a quite grown up taste, unusual and with a pronounced but soft smokiness that sits with the sweet vanilla fudginess really nicely. Piglet-Twiglet (teenage daughter) is a fudge aficionado and, yes, she likes it “but can’t eat a lot at once” unlike her usual fudge consumption then!

And it doesn’t appear to be child friendly. Adults rejoice! It’s all yours……

The remaining butter has found itself so far onto hot rye bread toast with honey, which went down very nicely for a weekend brekkie. Next up I think I’ll try some biscuits, maybe shortbread… I’ll let you know how that goes.

Here’s the recipe:

400g tin of condensed milk
150ml milk
450g light brown sugar
115g smoked butter

Heat everything gently in a pan until melted, then turn up the heat and bring to a “rolling boil”. It needs to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until the temperature reaches 116°c, if you don’t have a sugar thermometer this is when it forms a soft ball when dropped into cold water. Add some vanilla extract or seeds if you wish, then beat for about 10 minutes until it is thick. It’s a long time to beat but it’s worth it…Pour into a lined or greased 18″ square tin and chill before cutting into squares. Massage arm gently to recover from the beating.