I’ve made some fudge for Christmas. I haven’t fudged up the fudge because I’ve made it before, using a favourite drinking implement called Baileys. A couple of years on the trot I carried white chocolate Baileys fudge into work to hand out to pasty-faced hungover journos who’d had one drink too many at the works’ Christmas do. A sugar hit is a fine reviver.
This time though, I’ve left out the white chocolate as the good people of Baileys sent me another recipe, Baileys Christmas Fudge, devised by on-trend London baker Lily Vanilli. I’ve added my own tweak, a glass of Baileys.
It’s easy peasy, it really is. This is what I did last night – you can follow my photo-guide, but I’m a bit embarrassed that I’ve messed up on the tidiness / kitchen etiquette / presentation skills. They’re a bit like my dusting skills if I’m honest.
Baileys Christmas Fudge: What you need
200ml Baileys
400g tin of condensed milk
450g light brown sugar
120g unsalted butter
2cm square tin lined with baking paper
Sugar thermometer
(If you don’t have one, put a glass of really cold water on standby)
A large glass of Baileys and ice, because you know you want to
How to make the fudge:
Place everything in a non-stick saucepan and melt gently over a low heat stirring slowly until the sugar has dissolved. I always use the biggest pan I’ve got to do this, as you’ll be stirring like crazy and you can really dig in deep!!
Have a sip of the Baileys.
Once all is dissolved bring the mixture to the boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring all the time. Keep scraping the bottom so the sticky sweetness doesn’t catch and burn. Be careful, the mix will be really hot.
Have a sip of the Baileys.
To test if its ready drop a teeny amount into the glass of cold water and a small ball of fudge should form. If you have the thermometer, it will be ready when it reads about 116C
Have a sip of the Baileys.
Remove from the heat and beat the fudge until its very thick and starting to set, which will be about 10 minutes. I put the oven timer on at this point so I kept going ….. when it beeped I had a sip of the Baileys.
Pour into the prepared tin and leave to cool before cutting. I went into the lounge and had a final sip of the Baileys.
Lily Vanilli suggests you cut the fudge into stars, pop in a bag and decorate with holly. I didn’t have any star cutters so I just cut the fudge as well as I could and I’ve wrapped in some tissue for little gifts.
Lily has created other Christmas hacks including Baileys Hot Chocolate, glittery cranberries and sparkling pecans. To find out more, and to see how the super star Baileys Christmas Fudge should really look, you can go to the Lily Vanilli blog here.
*Baileys Irish Cream liqueur is available at all major supermarkets RRP £14.99. To keep up with their latest ideas, they’re on Twitter and Instagram