Monday, December 22, 2014

Julian's Fudge

When I was a pre-teen, I started reading these culinary murder mystery novels by Diane Mott Davidson.

The stories featured a caterer who solved various murders that happened around her friends and family.  The books also always feature some of the recipes that she uses as a caterer.

One menu item always stood out to me, and that was a fudge made by her young apprentice Julian Teller.  Here is an excerpt from the book describing the fudge:
                              
                              "The smooth, silky combination of bittersweet and milk chocolate 
                               combined with tart, chewy cherries and crunchy, toasted hazelnuts 
                               made my spine tingle."

That sentence just made my mouth water.

Unfortunately, the recipe for the fudge never appeared in any of the books, even though it was mentioned multiple times!

Which only left one option.  Make my own!

This fudge is rich, nutty, and dotted with those tart cherries just like the book mentions.  Heaven!


Julian's Fudge

Ingredients:

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 Tbs unsalted butter (softened)
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. Nutella
3/4 c. hazelnuts (toasted and roughly chopped)
3/4 c. Montmorency tart dried cherries (roughly chopped) (not all dried cherries taste the same, I prefer the ones from Sam's club)

Directions:

Line a 9x9 pan with aluminum foil and lightly spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

Place a heatproof bowl over a pot with about 2 inches of simmering water.  Combine the condensed milk, chocolate chips, butter, vanilla, salt, and Nutella in the bowl.  Stir occasionally until it is completely melted and smooth.

Remove from heat and stir in the cherries and hazelnuts until fully incorporated.  Pour the mixture evenly into the foil-lined pan.  Sprinkle with additional sea salt if desired.  Cover and refrigerate 2-3 hours until firm.

To cut, remove the foil from the pan, fold down the sides and cut with a knife.

Enjoy!

2 comments:

  1. Fudges are my favorite desserts out of all. I love it`s special, tender taste. Will try this one recipe out soon, sure it will be super.

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  2. Thank you so much for sharing this memory and recipe! I also started reading about Goldy's misadventures as a young teen and just started rereading them. I'm excited to try this recipe as my first attempt at fudge, and I'll be toasting you with an iced latte!🧋🍒🌰🍫

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