Slow Cooked Fudge with Maltesers

There has been much debate in the food and slow cooker circles as the whether or not this particular delectable treat can be considered a true 'Fudge'. I could do something pretentious such as quoting the definition of the term fudge as stated by Dictionary.com, but honestly, I don't really care.

This not-fudge is absolutely delicious and that is all that matters in this household!

It has fast become a staple in our house for the Hubble to take to work in his lunch box. I will make a batch at the start of the week and he will take a couple of pieces every day. He is a huge fan.

Since it is such a poplar thing in our household, I figured what better thing to write my very first post about? Chocolatey, gooey, sticky, awesomeness!!

The beauty of cooking your fudge this way, as opposed to over the stove top, is that while you cant just walk away and forget it, you still don't find yourself standing at the stove for 15-20 minutes stirring a pot constantly. For people who are time starved, or excessively lazy like myself, this is brilliant as it allows you to multitask.

I guess the first thing to do would be to gather up all of your ingredients. For this particular treat, I just used the basic fudge recipe and added in the Maltesers later. I thought about crushing some up and adding them in, but I didn't feel that it would work out to nicely because the heat of the mixture would make the gorgeous, crunchiness of the malt go all soggy.

Contrary to what the picture shows, I use two blocks of Cadbury Chocolate as my base. This helps the fudge to set and become nice and hard.

 One of the hardest things about making fudge in the slow cooker is that you have to have iron willpower. I know you will WANT to sneak a piece of chocolate when you are breaking it up to throw in the pot. It's just one, right? It wont hurt. In fact it will probably improve the dish because it will make you put that much more love into it, right?

Wrong! One piece inevitably leads to two, which lead to five and before you know it, the entire block is gone.

You're only cheating yourself by having a sneaky piece of the chocolate that is destined for the pot.

I'm not talking from experience either.

Nope.

Not at all.

One of the absolute MOST important things to remember when cooking fudge in the slow cooker, is that it has to be stirred at least every 15 minutes. Even though it is cooked slowly, burning is still a real possibility. Trust me when I say that burnt fudge is not delicious in any way. 

I always set a timer on my phone. Between my infant and my toddler, also the constant urge to be napping, I have a tendency to forget stuff (aka fudge cooking in the slow cooker).

Now for anyone who knows anything about me, they will know that I have the worst memory ever. I can forget where I have put my phone about five seconds after I have put it down. It's really quite ridiculous and since having kids it has only gotten worse. It's for this reason that I put our whiteboard to good use. Cooking for an hour and a half means you have to stir it six times (although technically its five because you remove it on number six).

Note: Please ignore the to do lists for my two small humans, you gotta keep on your toes with those things, ensuring that they have something to do during the day.

 

It can be a bit hard to discern when your fudge is cooked. I mean once it all melts down it hardly changes consistency at all. Its a bowl full of melted, chocolatey (and super hot, trust me, don't lick the spoon straight from the pot) awesomeness.

The best way to test if it is cooked or if it needs a little bit longer, is to take a small amount out with a spoon, let it cool for a minute or so (to avoid burning fingers.. is it obvious that I am talking from experience here?) and then try to roll it into a ball with your finger tips.

 If it looks somewhat like the picture then it is good to go.

Now, all of the above is good for a basic fudge. It can be done with dark, milk or white chocolate and will turn out tasting delicious! It is simple and classic.

At this point I, being the absolutely glorious and wonderful wife that I am, let Hubble have his way for a change and add in the flavourings of his choice.

This week he wanted Maltesers.

They could have been broken up (I do love beating stuff with the meat tenderiser to smash it up) but I was concerned that they would melt or go all soggy with the heat of the fudge. 

 Instead I opted to put a layer of them on the bottom of the pan and simply pour the fudge over the top, smooshing it in with a spatula once it was in the pan.

  The final stage is just so smoosh some of the remaining Maltesers (kept aside for this very purpose) onto the top of the fudge to make it look all artistic and pretty.

Throw it into the fridge for a few hours and cut it up into mouth sized pieces so you can see how many you can fit in there at once.

And voila!

You have yourself some thigh chunkening fudgey goodness!

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Recipe

Basic fudge ingredients:

1 395g tin sweetened condensed milk
2 220gm blocks of chocolate
Dollop of butter
Splash of vanilla

Additional:
One 280g Jumbo Pack Maltesers

Combine condensed milk, chocolate (broken up into pieces) butter and vanilla in SC pot.
Cook on high for 1.5 hours, stirring every 15 minutes, rotating the pot when you do to avoid hot spots.
(I set a timer on my phone so i remember. Also, even if it looks cooked before the 1.5 hours is up I still let it keep cooking, continuing to stir it.)

Meanwhile, empty all of the maltesers into a lined tin (mine is 20x20cm), removing 25 to put aside and plop on the top for decoration. 

Once the fudge is cooked, pour it into the tin over the top of the maltesers and press down with a spatula to make sure that all of the maltesers are wedged in there good and proper.
Smoosh the pretty toppers into the fudge and chuck in the fridge to cool and set.

Remove after a few hours to cut up into the desired size (25 pieces for me).
Proceed to use as bribery to gain power and rule the world due to it's deliciousness.