Maple Bacon Fudge Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my maple fudge not thickening? ›

Fudge Didn't Set

If your fudge turned out super sticky, or it didn't set as it cooled, it probably never got hot enough. This mistake is super easy to avoid if you use a candy thermometer and cook the fudge to the temperature specified in the recipe (usually between 234 and 239°F).

Beat Thoroughly. While you shouldn't mix the fudge mixture when it's hot, you should beat the mixture once it has been removed from the heat and cooled. Once again, turn to your candy thermometer.

Bring maple syrup, heavy cream, and brown sugar to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Continue to boil, without stirring, until mixture starts to bubble and registers 240 degrees F (166 degrees C) on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat. Add butter and salt but do not mix.

Let the fudge rest at room temperature for 15 minutes before placing in the refrigerator, uncovered. Refrigerate until the fudge is firm, about 2-3 hours (or overnight), before slicing and serving.

The main reason is that your Fudge has not reached the optimum temperature. If your mixture only reaches 110 or 112 degrees Celsius it will always be soft. That's why we recommend investing in a sugar thermometer. Another reason your Fudge is not setting is that the ratio of liquid to sugar is too high.

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).

In his book On Food and Cooking, food scientist Harold McGee writes, “A metal spoon can induce crystallization by conducting heat away from local areas of the syrup, cooling them and so leaving them supersaturated [causing crystallization].” He recommends using a wooden spoon, which doesn't conduct heat.

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!

Ingredients. Milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup, skim milk, high fructose corn syrup, whey, water, chocolate liquor, hydrogenated coconut oil, peanut oil, alkalized cocoa, mono and diglycerides, buttermilk, butter, natural flavors, soy lecithin, pectin, salt, cellulose gum, xanthan gum, guar gum, annatto (color), vanilla.

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.

What ingredient makes fudge hard? ›

As water gradually evaporates, sugar is concentrated and the temperature of the mixture rises above 100°C (212°F). If there is too much evaporation, when the cooking time is too long, there will not be enough water left in the fudge and it will be too hard.

Don't stir!

Once the fudge reaches soft-ball stage on the candy thermometer, remove from the heat and let the temperature drop to 110°F. Keep that spoon or spatula out of the pot until this happens. If you stir too early in the process, you'll make the sugar crystals too big and end up with grainy fudge.

Just check you thermometer by immersing it in boiling water. Then add 7 degrees for the correct temperature for syrup for your altitude & air pressure. For example, If water boils at 211 on your thermometer, syrup will boil at 218. The boiling temperature will slowly climb as the syrup thickens.

Increase finishing temperature.

By reheating the cream solution to a finishing temperature 2 °F higher than the initial finishing temperature or heating the initial sugar solution 2 °F higher, the solution will be thicker and less likely to separate.

How can you fix soft fudge? Put it in a microwave safe bowl that is large enough that it won't boil over. Reheat it to the boiling point and cook for about 3 more minutes. Then you can beat some powdered sugar into it if this doesn't make it set.