Making Fudge the Martha Stewart Way

I admit I must have been a bit bored! How can that be?  To take on making fudge and of all recipes Martha Stewart’s that calls for fudge pulling!  What the heck is fudge pulling? I had never heard of such a thing in all my years. But here it was when I looked up Chocolate Fudge using heavy cream and found this recipe (my other recipes call for milk and what we usually have in the fridge is cream so……).

http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Chocolate-Fudge-Martha-Stewart_1

You will need a clean work surface, such as a marble slab or buttered baking sheet, on which to pull the fudge.

                          Martha Stewart Living             

• Yield Makes about 3 pounds

Ingredients

•                     4 1/2 cups sugar
•                     1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
•                     1 1/2 cups heavy cream
•                     1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, plus more for fingertips
•                     3 tablespoons light corn syrup (a substitute for corn syrup is honey)
•                     1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
•                     1 1/2 cups chopped nuts, such as pecans or almonds (optional)

Directions

1.                     Line an eight-inch square baking pan with wax paper. In a heavy medium saucepan, whisk together sugar and cocoa. Add cream, butter, and corn syrup; cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until bubbling around the edges, about five minutes.
2.                     Continue cooking, without stirring, until mixture reaches the soft-ball stage on a candy thermometer (238 degrees to 240 degrees), 12 to 15 minutes; wash down sides of pan with a pastry brush dipped in water to prevent crystals from forming.
3.                    Remove pan from heat; let mixture rest in pan, undisturbed, until it has cooled to 160 degrees, about 40 minutes.
4.                     When temperature reaches 160 degrees, quickly pour fudge onto surface, using a rubber spatula to gently empty pan while holding pan very close to surface to prevent spattering. Spoon vanilla extract over fudge; let cool until fudge is almost at room temperature, about 15 minutes.
5.                    Using a long offset spatula, being pulling fudge in a figure-eight motion, moving from the bottom right, then up and over to the top left, before pulling back down to the right. Repeat, moving from the bottom left, then up and over to the top right, before pulling back down, pushing fudge onto itself.
6.                     Continue in this manner until you see a sudden change in appearance of fudge, from glossy to matte, 12 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, if desired, and stir well to combine.
7.                     Spread fudge onto a wax-paper-lined baking sheet; flatten with lightly buttered fingertips. Cover with wax paper; let stand at room temperature until set, at least four hours or overnight. Cut into squares before serving.

I made one minor mistake and continued to stir after it started to bubble – it may have made my recipe a bit crumbly. Don’t make the same mistake.

Here is my technique in pulling the fudge on the counter. I do not own an offset spatula so I used a wide paint scraper and it worked beautifully.

Like I said it is a bit crumbly but excellent flavor and like so many other fudge recipes I have tasted this does not have any crunchy bits of sugar in it, making it very creamy and delicious. This was the test to see if I am going to make it for Christmas, it looks like I will if I can get more almonds for the recipe.