The fudge that became my obsession, owned me, beat me down and that I finally made my bitch!

This is me.  I'm saying FUCK YEAH whilst I enjoy a glass o' vino in celebration of my bitchifying of the Buttermilk Pecan fudge.  OH YEAH!!  

<Deep sigh of contentment>

I'm writing this blog so I remember how I did this for future reference.  If you choose to take up this fudge challenge, may it help you enjoy success rather than delicious failure.

I first made this fudge last year for a family get together.  I doubled the recipe, followed the directions but the fudge wasn't fudge-like so I added powdered sugar.  It was delicious!  My only complaint was the texture.  Adding the powdered sugar changed it to a somewhat gritty fudge and I assumed made it sweeter than it was originally intended to be.  I'd always assumed the recipe failed because I'd done a double batch.  Little did I know that it failed because I followed the directions too closely!

http://www.lottieanddoof.com/2014/03/buttermilk-pecan-fudge/

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/pecan-buttermilk-fudge

Here are a couple links to the recipe.  It seems basic and simple.  It is, in a way.  The main message I need to give tonight is that you should NOT follow the time frames listed on the recipe.  IGNORE THE TIME FRAMES!!  If you follow them, your fudge will not turn out.  You will get delicious goo.  I know.  I got delicious goo by following the directions.

Ingredients:

1 C pecans

2 C sugar (white)

1 C buttermilk

1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter - cut into pieces 

(unsalted is important - you want control over the salt for this)

1 T honey

1/4 t kosher salt

Flaky sea salt (I used Fleur de Sel)

You'll need a candy thermometer.

Preparation:

Preheat over to 350

Line 9" x 5 " loaf pan with tin foil (works better than parchment paper)

Step 1:

Toast pecans for 8-10 minutes until they smell good and are slightly darkened.  This time frame is good to follow.  I burned them once because I wasn't paying attention.  They aren't cheap.

Remove from the oven and let them cool while you move on to the next step.

Step 2:  

Put your butter pieces, sugar, kosher salt, honey and buttermilk into a heavy bottom sauce pan.  This will boil up so don't use a small sauce pan.  It needs room!  It shouldn't be giant either.  Use some sense.  

Step 3: 

Heat over med-high heat until butter/sugar is melted.  Fit sauce pan with candy thermometer.  Bring mixture to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally until thermometer measures 238-240, otherwise known as soft ball stage.  The mixture will have darkened a bit to a pale gold and will no longer smell like melted butter but more like toffee.  

Cook it until it hits soft ball stage.  This will take a while.  Ignore the recipe directions.  Just keep going until you get there.  

* It's very important to test for soft ball stage.  Get a glass of cold water and dribble a little bit of the candy into it.  Here's how I do it...reach into the water and grab a bit of the candy.  If you can't grab it because it dissolves, it's not ready.  You should be able to touch it and have it hold some level of form that you can squish or roll between your fingers.  As soon as it does that, remove from heat.  

If you let it go too long it will hit hard ball stage and your fudge will be brittle instead of creamy.  You need to be watching and testing every few seconds.  You don't want to miss the right timing!  I've failed enough, resulting in goo (temp too low) and crumbles (temp too high).  

See how the thermometer has soft ball and hard ball stages noted?  I went to a notch over soft ball before it was actually soft ball.

Step 4:

Pour the candy into your mixing bowl.  Using a paddle attachment begin beating.  I work my way up for speed.  The directions say to beat on med-high speed.  Last time I tried that right out of the gate it was splattering all over the place.  238 degree liquid candy isn't all the fun to have splattering all over the place!  So I work my way up.  It won't take long and you'll get to the med-high speed.  You want that speed.  You're adding air into the mixture and cooling it off.  

pale gold color, smell has changed from buttery to more toffee-like, tho not strong

Step 5:

Wait. 

I hope you have a kitchen-aid or you are not going to enjoy this part!

You should rough chop the cooled pecans since you have some time.

Still glossy and gooey here but starting to change

It changed!  It became matte instead of glossy and stopped being goo!

Step 6:

After what seems like a long time (ignore the recipe directions - don't stop beating it until it changes its shine and consistency) suddenly your fudge should change from shiny and gooey to matte and stiff/semi-creamy.  It's done!  Take a sturdy spoon as the mixture will be thick and fold in the pecans.  

Step 7:  

Put fudge into prepared loaf pan and press into shape.  Once it is spread out and smoothed, sprinkle some of the flower of the sea (fancy salt) over the top.  Use your fingers and don't coat it.  Just a sprinkle but you want a sprinkle on every bite!

The fudge in this picture stayed gooey and didn't set up.  You can see how it looks shiny.  It's not supposed to be shiny.
BUT you can see the fancy salt I used for topping!

This is the successful batch, cooling.  It makes me happy :)

Step 8:  

Let it set up for an hour, use the foil to remove from pan and cut up.  You now have some wonderful, tangy, sweet and salty and non-chocolate fudge to savor!  

It really is delicious!  I have an addiction!  And now I have a record of how I did it!