Chocolate Marshmallow Brown Sugar Fudge

With Christmas just around the corner the thoughts of presents for friends and family will preoccupy most of us. It's the one time of year that you can give someone a present just because it's Christmas, but the reasoning behind the gift can of course be much more fundamental.  Through the year there are many that cross our paths that are kind and caring. People that can make  a difference just by being part of their company. Christmas is the perfect opportunity to thank those who are most important to us. It's always nice to appreciate those who take time out of their day to make our day a little easier and certainly some sort of a gift is an ideal gesture of thanks. Presents don't have to be expensive and I'm a true believer in the sentiment that 'It's the thought that counts'. Even the smallest gift is accompanied with the best of intentions.

A few months prior to Christmas I generally make some jams and chutneys, more because the garden is packed with fruit and the greenhouse with tomatoes and not because I am super organised! I always keep some to one side and have them as part of my Christmas hampers. If you are planning on giving some edible gifts as Christmas presents there is still plenty of time to put a few bits together. Some nice recycled jam jars, labels and a few pretty bows will make your home produce look even better. A jar of vanilla sugar is so easy to make. Add a vanilla pod to a nice jam jar, fill it with caster sugar and leave for a few weeks before enjoying in a cup of coffee or dusted over some shortbread.
Another really easy edible gift is some flavoured oil. Olive or rapeseed oil can be used. Pour out a little from the bottle, maybe add this to an already opened bottle, and add 3 full cloves of garlic and 2 large sprigs of fresh rosemary. Let this sit for about 2 weeks before use. This will taste delicious as a dip or as an oil for stir frying and it will cost considerably less than a shop bought flavoured oil.

Last year I received some Christmas biscuits from Nick on a gorgeous plate, all wrapped up beautifully with some cellophane and tied with a big bow. Not only were the biscuits home made but so was the plate! What an amazing present and something I'd like to recreate this year for some of my Christmas gifts. Now I'm not much of a potter but a few nice shop bought plates will do the trick.

I came across this recipe for fudge in Lorraine Pascal's new book, Home Cooking Made Easy. Home made sweets without using a sugar thermometer is always a good thing. I made them with the boys, they measured the ingredients and I took care of any of the stove bits. The contents of the saucepan gets very hot so I'd never let the kids even stir this when it's heating up. It took us all of 15 mins to make and then it took about 2 hours to set. We decorated the top with some Christmas sprinkles but any small sweets or chopped nuts would work perfectly. I wasn't a huge fan of this but that actually comes from the fact that I don't really like chocolate fudge. The children, however, loved it and enjoyed some with a hot chocolate while watching Narnia last night.

This is a lovely, easy recipe to make with the children.

One man grating while the other man samples the chocolate. 

Grating the chocolate was proving tricky, so Jack decided to chop it  instead.

Millie would be very offended if she wasn't included in whatever activities the boys are at!!

Ingredients

vegetable oil, for greasing

70g/2½oz butter

300g/10½oz soft light brown sugar

125g/4½oz evaporated milk

225g/8oz marshmallows

300g/10½oz milk chocolate, chopped

75g/3oz dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solids), chopped

Method

1. Grease a 20cm/8in square cake tin with vegetable oil, then line with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the butter, sugar and milk in a pan over a low heat and melt gently. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the marshmallows and turn up the heat. Boil the fudge for 5-6 minutes.
3. Take the pan off the heat and add the grated chocolate. Leave for one minute, then stir the mixture together until everything is melted.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and leave to set for a couple of hours. Once set, remove from the tin and cut into 25 squares.
   
   

I've entered this post in English Mum's Great Christmas Bake Off.