Honey Fudge

I made honey fudge on Thursday night. We have this big bottle of runny honey (so much more fun to say than liquid honey) that has gotten all crystallized and is just a pain to use now. I had to find a way to use it up. I also wanted to challenge myself with sugar work. (I've tried making molasses taffy for the past few years and have yet to succeed, but that's another story.) On a camping trip a few weeks back, we stopped at a place that had all kinds of fudge but I couldn't get any (peanut allergy) and my sweet tooth has been twitching ever since. Honey and fudge... could they be combined? Have I mentioned how much I love the internet?

I found this honey fudge recipe and it seemed simple enough. I followed the instructions to the letter - mostly - and made the plain variety. First off, I let it boil for the full 9 minutes. I checked it as I went with a thermometer and with the cold water method, since I want to get the hang of that for future candy fun. It seemed to reach the temperature I'd seen at other sites around the 7 minute mark. I figured I'd trust the recipe over my thermometer since my last attempts were underdone.

Then I started mixing it right away like it said, even though some other recipes I'd looked at said to let it cool to a certain temperature before mixing. Those other recipes, though, were for sucre a la creme which is what I grew up with and which I understand has a different texture - grainier and crumblier. So I'm stirring and stirring and realize I've forgotten the vanilla. In it goes. That's my only deviation from the recipe: the vanilla went it late. It didn't seem to ruin anything.

Still stirring, stirring, stirring, it didn't say how long to go, so I had set the timer for 9 minutes (I know... now) and started noticing the texture change around the three minute mark but kept going just in case. Around 5 or 6 minutes it almost started to firm up in the pot so I plopped it onto the pan and pressed it out. It was kind of crumbly, but oh well. I scored it into squares and left it to cool by the window. (I felt so Holly Homemaker for that. It was great.)

When DH got home a couple hours later, it was cool enough to try. A friend of ours was with him and they each tried it and liked it. We all agreed it was a little harder and crumblier than the typical texture of fudge, but she seemed to prefer it that way. Go figure. I tried it too, and was surprised at how well I liked it. See, I don't particularly like honey. A bit of it in tea is alright, but the flavour on its own doesn't much appeal to me. This fudge definitely tasted of honey but not too much. It was just right.

Later that night I set aside a few squares for us and packed up the rest for him to bring to work. There was maybe three quarters of a pound and a bit. It came back without a crumb left. I think they liked it.

I definitely plan to try this recipe again, though I'll probably stop stirring it after 3 or 4 minutes. Despite my french roots, I like that softer texture.