Spicy Mexican Hot Chocolate Fudge Recipe | Easy Homemade Fudge (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between hot fudge and fudge? ›

Hot fudge is made by boiling together cream, sugar, chocolate, and sometimes butter—the traditional ingredients for fudge—into what is essentially just an undercooked, unset version of the confection.

Use a candy thermometer or conduct a cold water test to check if the fudge is done. Do not rely on the cooking time indicated in your recipe. The fudge is ready when a candy thermometer reads between 112°C to 114°C (234°F to 237°F) or the mixture forms a soft ball in cold water.

Once a seed crystal forms, it grows bigger and bigger as the fudge cools. A lot of big crystals in fudge makes it grainy. By letting the fudge cool without stirring, you avoid creating seed crystals.

You must use full-fat sweetened condensed milk. Do NOT use evaporated milk, as it's much thinner and the fudge won't set properly if you use it.

In the simplest terms, it all comes down to viscosity — hot fudge is thicker than both chocolate sauce and chocolate syrup, with a richer, more decadent chocolate flavor.

Fudge (Chocolate and Otherwise)

Aside from these ingredients, fudge is generally comprised simply of milk, sugar, and butter as the base. To this basic recipe, one can add chocolate chips, butterscotch, peanut butter chips, white chocolate, or even espresso powder to create compelling flavor combinations.

Cream or milk, sugar, and butter are slowly boiled down until slightly thickened and light caramel-colored. This boiling-down process not only gives the sauce it's great gooey texture, but also contributes that special “fudgey” taste to the chocolate.

You have to control two temperatures to make successful fudge: the cooking temperature AND the temperature at which the mixture cools before stirring to make it crystallize. Confectionery experiments have shown that the ideal cooking temperature for fudge is around 114 to 115 °C (237 to 239 °F).

Secondly, the pot's material should allow for good heat distribution hence your top choice should be copper cookware or a pot with a copper core. Copper's exceptional heat conductivity offers unparalleled temperature control, an asset when working with finicky ingredients like sugar.

Beating the cooled batter is one of the crucial steps of fudge-making, but overbeating can turn fudge hard as a rock. Pay close attention to the change in appearance and only beat the fudge until it loses its glossy sheen.

Should I stir fudge while boiling? ›

Stir the ingredients to dissolve the sugar until the mixture comes to a boil. If your recipe uses milk, stirring will keep the mixture from curdling. But once it reaches about 236–238 degrees F/113–114 degrees C (the "soft-ball" stage), do not stir it or even shake the pan.

Fudge usually behaves this way when it's not cooked to a high enough temperature (due to oversight or a faulty candy thermometer). If your fudge is tough, hard, or grainy, then you may have made one of several mistakes: You may have overcooked it, beaten it too long, or neglected to cool it to the proper temperature.

If your fudge is soft or runny, it probably didn't come up to a high enough temperature while it was cooking. Put it back into the saucepan and add 1–2 US tbsp (15–30 ml) of 35% fat whipping cream. Stir the fudge as it heats, but only until the sugar in the chocolate is completely melted again.

Cream of tartar is used in caramel sauces and fudge to help prevent the sugar from crystallizing while cooking. It also prevents cooling sugars from forming brittle crystals, this is why it's the secret ingredient in snickerdoodles!

If you let your fudge get too hot, the sugars will start to concentrate and the fudge will be crumbly, dull, and hard. To fix it, put it back into the saucepan and add about 3–4 US tbsp (44–59 ml) of 35% fat whipping cream. Stir the mixture as you heat it until the sugar in the fudge is melted.

The amount of time you cook fudge directly affects its firmness. Too little time and the water won't evaporate, causing the fudge to be soft. Conversely, cook it too long and fudge won't contain enough water, making it hard with a dry, crumbly texture.