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What's wrong with my fudge?

16 years ago

On Tuesday night I made a batch of the 1-bowl chocolate fudge from a recipe that was posted here or on the recipe forum. It's great-tasting fudge and I made it last year with success. It's only 4 ingredients: 16 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, 1 can sweetened condensed milk (heated together until the chocolate melts), 2 tsp. vanilla and 1-1/2 cups chopped nuts.

This year, though it tastes delicious, a very thin layer of fat settled on the surface as it cooled in the pan, leaving that filmy-white stuff that looks like butter fat. It doesn't affect the taste, it just doesn't look very good.

I triple-checked the recipe to make sure I did all the right things -- which I did.

The ONLY thing I did differently this year was to use the Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate bars (4 oz. each) from the baking section instead of another brand of chocolate. I'm certain I didn't use the G. bars last year. Could that be it?? Everything else was exactly the same. OR, perhaps I didn't stir it *exactly* as long as last year, but the ingredients were well incorporated when I poured it into the pan.

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Comments (8)

lucyny
16 years ago
I'm not familiar with your recipe but sounds like it was too hot & may have needed to be stirred a little longer to cool just a bit, before pouring into pan. The fact that you've come to have the layer on top as you've described, my best guess that it was to hot.

Lucy
jenn
Original Author
16 years ago
Lucy,

Thanks for your reply. I don't think it was too hot... I heated the chocolate and milk in the microwave. The chocolate was just starting to melt and still in the square shapes (but very soft) when I began to stir it. I watched it very carefully and removed it from the oven a little sooner than the recipe says to do. Perhaps it just needed longer stirring. I'll try again this weekend but with Nestle's semi-sweet chips and see how it turns out.

It tastes great, in spite of the milky coating on the top!

Jen
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grainlady_ks
16 years ago
I wonder if your "mystery" substance could have been from the fat you put on your pan (if you buttered or oiled it), or from the fat in the chocolate?

If your chocolate had already gone through several temperature changes while warehoused or shelved and it got warmer than room temperature, that can affect the end result.

I line the fudge pan with RELEASE Non-Stick Aluminum Foil to avoid any fat residue on the fudge from the pan coating.

-Grainlady
Terrapots
16 years ago
Check the ingredients in the milk and choolate, could be an additive that is not in the chips or scm might have been old or settled out. I just made MW fudge, put into buttered pan but it was so thick that the butter could not have melted enough to crawl up on top of the fudge, let alone a thin film. I didn't get mine as hot as I wanted but it still turned out great.
steelmagnolia2007
16 years ago
My mother always told me that the secret to fudge was beating it to death! She said that it wasn't so much the recipe you used, but 'beating' -- not stirring -- until it took on a gloss. Do you think that might have been the problem?

sm
lindac
16 years ago
Amazing how this 3 month old thread comes to the fore....
I hope Jenn figured out what was wrong with her fudge and I hope her family ate it in spite of the bloom.
Linda C
Terrapots
16 years ago
That's me. I was researching and posted instead of just checking. Sorry. Couldn't delete it.
steelmagnolia2007
16 years ago
I never noticed the date. Forgive me for asking, but why didn't you offer any help when she first posted her question?

sm

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