Fudge

photo by Jonah Rosenberg

FUDGE 

gluten-free, with dairy-free and nut-free variations

adapted from Sunbutter by My Little Blue Heron

Easy to make, chocolatey, rich, satisfying and scrumptious, this creamy confection keeps well, is great for kids and adults .. in time for Passover (not macaroons!), Easter and will be a satisfying nosh for the upcoming impeachment hearings!

Adjust this recipe .. to your taste and diet: make yours with cocoa or cacao, vegan and nut-free, vegan and nutty, buttery and nut-free or pull out those stops and make it chocolatey, buttery and nutty. 

If you're using cocoa, choose a good quality dark one. I like Valhrona from France. I buy it (in bulk) on Amazon. You can find this and other excellent brands at very good markets. If high end cocoa doesn't appeal to you, pick up some Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa – it’s easy to find, and it's good. Alternatively, use raw cacao. Cacao is what our neighbors and friends from Mexico use for molé sauce.

Navitas Naturals is a great choice:  

Cacao'll quell chocolate cravings whilst supplying you with important nutrients like magnesium and iron.

(oh) Fudge keeps "forever" in the fridge. You can freeze it, but it's not going to last that long.

Nut allergies?, use sunflower butter. Buy “Sunbutter”, or make it in your Vitamix. Buy roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds. (Trader Joe’s is a great resource.) It's so easy: throw them in your Vitamix and use that tamper thing. Make any nut butter for this recipe!: almond, hazelnut, cashew or peanut butter. Be sure to buy roasted and unsalted nuts. Make sure your nuts are fresh. Expired nuts are bitter and should be discarded. For obvious reasons, making your own is always your best choice. Of all the nut butters, peanut butter (a legume butter) will lend a strong flavor to your fudge (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.)

MLBH truc: Store opened nuts in the freezer, and use them as soon as possible because they begin to taste like the freezer pretty quickly. You can toast unused nuts in the oven at 350º F. until they're just slightly toasted (the oils will surface). Cool them completely and store them in a glass jar in a cool pantry. Use them for eating, baking, and for sprinkling on salads and veggies. 

Be creative: swirl some raspberry or strawberry jam thru the fudge before you put in in the fridge. If you're making this for kids, melt some marshmallows (or be lazy and use Fluff).  Mix in some cocoa nibs or chocolate bits, chopped nuts or dried fruit. Candy some orange rind and lay a piece on each square. Use liquor instead of extract…try Frangelico, Grand Marnier or coffee liquor. I infused my hazelnut fudge with Frangelico and decorated it with candied violets. (You can candy your own violet petals by brushing them with egg white and sprinkling them with sugar and letting them dry, or you can order them online.) I bought mine at Kalustyan's in NYC. You won't find them in their online catalogue, but if you call them, they may be available.

Are you leading a dairy-free life? Easy: use coconut oil, but use refined coconut oil. Refined coconut oil won’t dominate the confection, and you'll decide what layers of taste you want without coconut masking all other flavors. Refined coconut oil is pretty much odorless and doesn't readily taste of coconut. In the U.S., I like Spectrum brand.

Vitacost.com is a great online market. If you’re not already familiar with this resource, do check it out: great products, competitive pricing, and their house brand is terrific, and much less pricey (super fine rice flours – and yes, refined coconut oil!) Good to know: excellent customer service. Any issues? They're good eggs.

MLBH truc: Sift your 10X (powdered sugar) and cocoa twice: first separately, then together. Fudge umami guaranteed.

peace and love,

jane

photo courtesy of Jonah Rosenberg

Fudge

Prepare:

Lightly spray and line: a quarter sheet pan, or a small cake pan (8x8 or smaller), or a small loaf pan, with parchment or non-stick foil, leaving ends hanging over two ends of pan, enabling you to lift fudge from pan for cutting.

Vanilla powder is recommended for certified GF baking.  

Ingredients:

¼ c. unsalted butter or refined coconut oil

1/3 c./100 ml. milk or culinary coconut milk, “lite” or regular/nondairy milk

2 tsp vanilla extract or ½ tsp. vanilla powder or liquor/flavoring of choice

4 ½ c./196 g. 10X (powdered sugar), sifted

½ c./46g. cocoa powder or raw cacao powder, sifted

¼ to ½ tsp. salt

½ c. sunflower or nut butter of choice

optional additions: cocoa nibs, chopped chocolate, jam, coconut, marshmallow, chopped nuts, dried fruit...

Procedure: 

1. Sift together the 10X and cocoa/cacao, and salt. Set aside.

2. Measure sunflower/nut butter. Set aside.

3. Measure milk/coconut/nondairy milk. Set aside.

4. In a large saucepan, melt butter/coconut oil.

5. Stirring, with a wooden spoon, add sugar/cocoa mixture, a little bit at a time, until completely   
    blended.

6. Fold in sunflower or nut butter.

7. Fold in optional ingredients.

8. Using a spatula, transfer to prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula or knife.

9. Cover with a piece of parchment or waxed paper and refrigerate until firm.

10. Lift from pan and using a sharp knife, cut to desired shape and size. Cut all or leave some
      and cut "on demand".

11. Keep fudge well wrapped in a covered container in the fridge. 

Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from Julia Moskin by Blue Heron Kitchen

For some, this time of year is all about cookies. For me, all year is about cookies. This recipe is credited back to NYC’s City Bakery. Moskin calls for cultured butter. I used a combination of cultured butter and Plugra. I don’t know how many people can get their hands on or afford cultured butter, but if you can, try them with it.

For those who have nut allergies, try those “it’s not really peanut butter” spreads. Or try sunflower butter. I don’t know if they’ll be as good, but it couldn’t hurt.

Maldon brand salt is worth its salt. It’s becoming more available in the American market and if you can snag a box, do. I saw it in a local Asian market “hMart”! Thanks to my son, who lived for many years in the UK, I’ve hoarded accumulated several boxes. There are undoubtedly other flake salts on the market.

When pastry chef, Pichet Ong judged Moskin and Severson’s cookie bake-off, these gems were one of the two winners.

Pour a glass of milk and dunk.

Here's a peanut butter fan who prefers it straight from the jar with ice water...

with a smile and a song,

jane

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup/228 grams/2 sticks unsalted butter room temperature, cultured butter if you can find it or can spare the extra dime

¾ cup/150 grams granulated sugar

¾ cup (packed)/150 grams light brown sugar

1 heaping tsp./6 grams kosher salt

2 cups/510 grams unsweetened peanut butter, creamy or chunky
(a 1 pound jar plus 53 grams of any peanut butter you have in the              house ..I used “Skippy”!)

2 eggs, size large, room temperature

2 cups/250 grams all-purpose flour

Flaky sea salt (Maldon is perfect!) or Kosher salt, if you don’t have fancy stuff; and coarse (Turbinado is great!) or granulated sugar for sprinkling

Procedure:

Heat oven to 350º F.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick liners.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until smooth and fluffy - about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs and beat until combined.

Add the peanut butter and mix. (Don’t bother to mix the separated oil – just dump it all in.)

Whisk in the heaping tsp. of salt to the flour and dump in the flour mixture, mixing until well combined.

In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons sugar with 1 tablespoon of flakey salt.

Using a small cookie scoop (about 2 teaspoons capacity), scoop dough onto prepared pans. The tops will be rounded but craggy. The cookies won’t spread much or change shape when they bake, so they can be placed quite close together, but do leave room for air circulation so they can turn golden brown.

Sprinkle each cookie lightly with sugar-salt mixture, getting it into the nooks and crannies.

OR .. One very cool variation on these is to sprinkle the sugar/salt ‘topping’ on a sheet of parchment and create a ‘roll’ for slice and bake, 

coating the outside with the topping, not unlike a sablé. Refrigerate and pull these out when you’re ready, slice about 1/2” thick and adjust baking time as needed. And .. wow! (I think I like these best!)

Bake 12 to 17 minutes, or until cookies are set and golden-brown. When cooled, removed from baking sheets and finish cooling on racks. Store in airtight containers, separated by parchment paper. N.B. These are delicate and crumbly, so don’t pack them too tightly.

Yield: approx. 6 ½ dozen