Nog Your Average Fudge

No two ways about it, I love eggnog.  Nearly every year I make eggnog, cinnamon swirl scones, which are absolutely fabulous.  But this year I wanted to try something new.  The problem was I couldn’t seem to decide what it would be.  Eggnog cupcakes with nutmeg buttercream?  Eggnog pancakes with spicy syrup?  Eggnog custard pie?  They all sound amazing, I know.  In the end, though, I decided on eggnog fudge.  It was definitely the right decision.  Sweet, creamy, spicy, eggnogy, fudge. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 2 cups sugar
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon mace
• ¾ cup eggnog
• 2 Tablespoons corn syrup
• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 

The first thing you need to do is butter a glass baking dish and set it atop hot pads or a kitchen towel. 

Now pour your sugar into a large saucepan and add the spices.  I realize not everyone has mace on hand (although you should.  It’s a fabulous topping for vanilla ice cream), but you can just use ½ teaspoon nutmeg.  I highly recommend freshly grating your own, though. 

Stir that together and pour in the eggnog. 

Stir until it looks like this, then add the corn syrup.  Ordinarily I steer clear of corn syrup, but it has a more delicate flavor than brown rice syrup, so I chose it for this fudge variety.

Stir constantly until it comes to a boil, then place the lid or for 3 minutes. 

During that time, wash your spoon or get a clean one out, and get a little dish of ice cold water.  When you remove the lid it will look more like this. 

It’s time to start testing for temperature.  I don’t do candy thermometers, so just drop a little bit into the cold water. 

When the syrup has reached the right temperature, you should be able to form it into a soft ball that will mostly hold its shape but gives easily between your fingers. 

Carefully pour the hot syrup into your prepared pan.  Don’t scrape the saucepan, just allow what syrup will, to run out.   

Now it needs to cool for a while so go sit down, unless like me, your seat has been taken by someone else. 

You want the temperature to get to the point that you can comfortably hold your hand on the bottom of the pan.  Mine took about 30 minutes to get there.  During that time, butter a small pan and line it with parchment.  I used a loaf pan. 

Set that aside, and when the syrup has reached the proper temperature, it’s time to start stirring.  Oh, but first you need to add the vanilla.  I used ½ teaspoon of two different kinds.  The vanilla bean paste because it has all those little seeds which will make pretty little specks in the fudge, and the second because I really love this Mexican vanilla. 

Ok, now we’ll start the stirring.  Wooden or bamboo spatulas were made for this job.  Well, at least they were in my world.  Gently scrape the mixture in from the sides. 

Slowly, the butter and vanilla will work themselves into the mixture.  It should be nice and smooth and syrupy. 

Just keep moving it around.  Scrape, drizzle, stir, etc.  Eventually, you’ll notice it’s becoming more opaque.  It’s still very runny, though.  So keep going. 

Oh, this is looking promising.  The mixture it starting to hold its shape in the pan.  Definitely a good sign. 

You’re getting close, but it’s still running in ribbons, so you're not quite there. 

Yes!  It has successfully fudgified!!  See how the strands no longer run, they just break?  That's perfect. 

Now quickly glop it into your pan and smooth it out as best as you can.

Fudge is best after resting for at least a few hours and even better if you can manage to leave it overnight.  Then cut it into small squares because it’s very rich.  Not that it will really stop you from eating enough to make yourself sick anyway. 

What would you like to see made with eggnog? 

Mounds of Coconut

Gluten free mounds! (yes, I'm hitting a food blog buzzword)

But it's true. There's no gluten in these.

There's coconut and chocolate though, and really, that's all that matters.

There are a few no-gluten people at work and I feel bad every week when they have to pass on the cookies, so I thought I'd give the gluten free thing a shot.

These are more of a candy than a cookie, but I doubt anyone will complain.

Chocolate Coconut Candy Cookies

Filling

• 2 c sugar
• 1/2 c milk
• 1/2 c butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 c ground almonds
• 3 c unsweetened shredded coconut

Coating

• 2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp butter

 

In a pot big enough to hold all the ingredients, combine the sugar, milk, and butter over medium heat. 

These are basically a variation on Taneasha's No Bake Cookies and she has some great tips there on how to make the "candy" part of these "cookies" come out perfectly. I didn't follow any of them. 

What?

You expected me to follow rules?? Seriously, I'm amazed I managed to measure the sugar and the milk. No comment on the butter.

Bring the candy combo to a boil and set a timer for 3 minutes. (I let mine go an extra couple minutes and I think that I won't next time)

After 3 minutes, remove the pot from the heat and pour in the vanilla. You can even measure it if you want to.

Stir that in and then dump in the almonds and coconut. Yes, I know Taneasha's tips said to pour this onto the dry stuff, but this way, there's only one pot to wash.

If you want pure coconut you can replace the cup of ground almonds, but I'm thinking it might be fun to go the other way and do these with ground almonds only.

I recommend using the 3 minutes of boiling to lay out parchment paper on the counter or a table.

Since my air conditioner is in the bedroom, and the air in the rest of my apartment is distinctly not conditioned, I moved my kitchen table into the bedroom and laid out the parchment.

Fill a small scoop by pressing it against the edge of the pot. If you have a melon baller that wold work. Do people even have melon ballers any more? Me, I have a tablespoon measure that is dome shaped. Look! I measured something!

Drop these little mounds of coconut candy onto the parchment.

They will start to set pretty quickly, but the stuff in the pot will still be hot. Be careful if you decide that you want to use your hands to try to shape them a bit.

You can't roll them, or they'll fall apart; you have to press them into shape. Which was more work than I wanted to do so I went back to the scoop.

Now, you could leave these things as is, and everything would be lovely.

Or, you could decide that they need some chocolate drizzled over top.

I totally forgot to take pictures of the chocolate part, but if you follow Taneasha's chocolate tempering steps you'll be just fine. Okay seriously, is there anything candy-related the woman can't do?

Mine came out beautifully. Damn she's good.

Drizzling didn't work out so well.

So I dipped.

And dipped

and dipped.

And managed to avoid licking my fingers between dips.

And if you're wondering what to do with the crumbles left in the bottom of the pot, and the last bit of chocolate in the bowl, I recommend balls. 

Some of the dips will come out looking like they were made by a 5 year old (actually, most of them will... or maybe it's just me),

but some of them will be lovely.

And all of them will need about an hour for the chocolate to set.

So, are you willing to try gluten-free recipes?