Salted Dark Chocolate Bourbon Fudge Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to use salted or unsalted butter in fudge? ›

Choose the right butter – You can use salted or unsalted butter, though using salted gives it a bit of contrast, like salted caramel. If you'd prefer to enjoy the richness of chocolate, choose unsalted butter. Don't over-stir the fudge.

Chocolate and Fudge Have Different Textures

Fudge is soft, spongy, and malleable. On the other hand, chocolate has a smooth, hard, and shell-like texture. The only exception is a chocolate ganache, which has a soft, warm texture.

Fudge is a type of confectionery made with sugar, butter, and milk that often includes cocoa powder or melted chocolate. It has a creamy texture and can be flavored with various ingredients such as nuts, fruits, or spices. Fudge may also contain marshmallow creme or condensed milk to give it an even richer flavor.

At its simplest, fudge is a dense, soft candy, often made with sugar and dairy products like butter and milk. Nowadays, fudge is usually flavored with chocolate, but you can utilize pretty much any flavor, such as peanut butter, pumpkin, even birthday cake.

Adjust Salt

Next, if you're swapping unsalted for salted butter, reduce the amount of salt listed in the recipe to adjust for the salt in the butter. Take ¼ teaspoon of salt away for every stick of butter used*. Do the opposite if you're swapping salted for unsalted butter.

Fudge is best stored at room temperature for 2 to 3 weeks wrapped up in its original wax paper. NEVER REFRIGERATE your fudge as this will draw out the moisture and leave you with dry, crumbly fudge.

If you're making a lighter fudge that doesn't involve any chocolate, you might notice that the recooked batch has a darker, brownish color, thanks to caramelized sugar crystals.

Most dark chocolate is rich in plant chemicals called flavanols. Flavanols are antioxidants linked to a lower risk of heart disease. In theory, dark chocolate will contain higher flavanol content (greater health benefit). Milk chocolate contains much less, and white chocolate contains none.

It's the size of sugar crystals that makes the knees of fudge lovers buckle…the smaller the crystals, the less they are perceived on the tongue and the more the fudge tastes smooth and creamy. Cooking, and beating after cooking, is the key to successful fudge.

What is the secret to smooth fudge that is not gritty? ›

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.

After years of testing recipes, we're pretty sure we have a handle on the most popular fudge flavors, but chocolate and cherry will always rank high on the list.

It's almost all sugar and fat and contains very little water, so bacteria can't get a foothold on it. I've kept fudge around for months with no problem. However, fresh fudge has a perfect balance of moisture and evenly distributes the sugar molecules with the fat molecules (delicious!).

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!

Technically, “fudge” is simply cooked sugar. Cook your sugar a few degrees higher and your product will likely be a bit firmer.

But if you're baking, unsalted butter is the best way to go since added salt can alter the chemistry of your recipes, clash with more delicate flavors, or crash into sweetness. But if you only have salted butter on hand, don't completely give up.

It all comes down to flavor! Salted butter will almost always add a little something extra when it comes to taste. It's also great for those who like the combination of sweet and salty, like in the case of cowboy cookies.

UNSALTED BUTTER has less salt and lower water content. In baking, butter with a low water content is preferred, since excess water can interfere with how the gluten develops. You may notice a positive difference in baked goods that use unsalted butter, specifically in taste and texture.

And they always use unsalted butter, a practice adhered to so strictly that it's rare to find a recipe that calls for the salted variety. Whenever a unicorn salted butter recipe does emerge—usually some kind of cookie, and often chocolate chip—it causes some combination of shock, outrage, and annoyance.