Creamy Garlic Fudge Recipe

Above: Creamy Garlic Fudge

Fudge is a soft candy made from sugar, butter, and milk or cream. This recipe adds the excitement of garlic.

If you saw "fudge" in the title and ran out and bought chocolate without reading the actual recipe, that's okay. You won't see any chocolate in this fudge. This recipe is like peanut-butter fudge, or maple fudge. Not all fudge includes chocolate.

A normal, boring person would probably leave garlic fudge well alone.  But for reasons even I can't fully understand or comprehend, I find this fudge to be tasty, in a garlicky kind of way. This recipe incorporates roasted garlic. After all, roasting garlic in the oven transforms the zingy kick of raw garlic into a buttery and sweet taste, just like fudge!  This fudge has robust, bold garden overtones. It’s tastes like a lovely buttery fudge, except that it distinctly has garlic in it. 

Garlic Fudge is sweet, with no more salt than any other fudge, so I would not call it savory. The aroma emanating from this fudge is certainly is good, buttery and garlicky. About half the people who try it like it and some of those will eat more than one piece. If you follow the recipe, you should get a moist, not gooey or sticky, but a perfect creamy fudge texture that cleans up nicely. Roasting the garlic mellows the flavor in a good way, and the garlic still comes through clearly.

Garlic Fudge Shopping List

1 Head of Garlic (with 5+ cloves). Try Hardneck Garlic such as : German Extra Hardy, Metechi, Music or Chesnok Red.

4 Tablespoons of butter (salted or unsalted, your pick)

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 Tablespoons real maple syrup or corn syrup (optional to retard crystallization)

1/4 tsp salt

Vanilla Extract

Chopped nuts (Almonds or Walnuts)

Candy thermometer

1. Roast Garlic:

• Place the head of garlic on a piece of foil, and pour a little oil the exposed cloves. 

• Roast at 375°F for 40 minutes or until soft. See how to Roast Garlic

• While the garlic is roasting, line a 12" x 12" square baking pan with parchment paper. See a fail-proof way to line a pan with parchment paper.

2. Squeeze the Garlic:

• Using thumbs and index fingers, squeeze the soft, roasted cloves out of their papery skin into a heavy-bottomed, thick large saucepan. 

• Mash and stir until it is not chunky.

3. Cook the Mixture:

• In this heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar, (half of the) butter, milk and heavy cream, and maple syrup.

• Put on the lowest heat you can, and heat gently until the butter is melted and you can’t feel the sugar crunching under your spoon. 

• Continue to stir with a wooden spoon until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted.

• Increase heat and bring to a boil.

• Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and boil for 3 minutes.

• Remove the cover and attach a candy thermometer to the pot.

• Cook until the thermometer reads 235 degrees F. Remove from the heat and add the remaining butter. Do not stir.

• Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes or until it drops to 130 degrees F.

• Add vanilla and nuts, if desired, and mix until well-blended and the shiny texture becomes matte. Pour into the prepared pan.

• Let sit in cool dry area until firm.

• Cut into 1-inch pieces and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

4. Cool:

Remove from heat. Allow to cool a bit and then mix until it loses its gloss. Pour into the 12"x12" square backing pan onto buttered surface. Press flat and cut into pieces immediately. How fast the fudge sets up is dependent partly on how hot it gets before you remove from the heat.

5. Final Step

Grease an 8 by 8-inch pan with butter. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar, chocolate, 1 1/2 tablespoons of the butter, half-and-half, and corn syrup. Over medium heat, stir with a wooden spoon until sugar is dissolved and chocolate is melted. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and boil for 3 minutes. Remove the cover and attach a candy thermometer to the pot. Cook until the thermometer reads 234 degrees F. Remove from the heat and add the remaining butter. Do not stir. Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes or until it drops to 130 degrees F. Add vanilla and nuts, if desired, and mix until well-blended and the shiny texture becomes matte. Pour into the prepared pan. Let sit in cool dry area until firm. Cut into 1-inch pieces and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

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