I don’t like to go down without a fight, so this week I bring you Christmas fudge, take two!
I know they say it’s the third time that’s a charm, but the second time will have to do in this particular case because I don’t think I have it in me to make fudge three times (I would totally have it in me to make fudge successfully three times, but if I fail at it three times, I will be forced to eat so much subpar fudge that I might then have to hate fudge forever and that’s just not a risk I’m willing to take).
I’m completely writing this post before I’m actually making this fudge, but the dream of it that I have in my head is so mouthwateringly festive that it can’t possible fail (argh…why did you say that Amber? Now it’s definitely going to be a huge fail because…karma. I highly recommend relaxing your blog honesty policy on this front since I’m now clearly seeing disaster, screaming, crying, and frustrated foot stomping in your future (and not in a fun and angsty 90’s rock band kind of way)).
Moving on, I determined that part of the failure from last week….erm…wait, I forgot, not failure since it became delicious toffee instead 😉 . Let’s say “discovery”? So, part of my accidental discovery from my last fudge attempt (which, being the egomaniac that I am, I’m going to just go ahead and put myself on par with Fleming and the accidental discovery of penicillin. Now I’m just waiting on my call from the Nobel committee for my contributions to the baking world. That’s a category right? 😉 ) – aside from the addition of marshmallows of course, was that I was too tunnel visioned on the healthy-ish fudge recipes that I’ve posted before (mostly because I enjoy the flavour a lot and knew it to be successful). That was extremely foolish however. This is Christmas and if ever there’s a time where healthy goes out the window, it’s Christmas. That is not to say however that I was going to be starting completely from scratch. I’m way too lazy and time-pressed for that for one thing, and for another, did I mention how tasty I consider those other fudges to be? On that note, we enter fudge squared. The same healthy fudge you know and love but elevated (or lowered depending on your health perspective 😉 ) to a whole new level of delicious, sweet, festive and, importantly for my purposes, less melty, with the addition of icing sugar. Huzzah!
In some ways, this fudge has even more health benefits than those other fudges, but I freely admit that it’s questionable how much that gets ruined with all that extra sugar. Now I wanted these to not only taste good, but I also really wanted them to look Christmasy and festive. The problem is that I’m not a huge fan of using food dyes if I can at all avoid it, but the red and green of Christmas are fairly intense colours, so how is one to create such vibrance without the addition of artificial enhancements? (That’s what she said 😉 ). Bear with me here for a moment because I suspect once I let you in on my colourful secrets you will balk and literally throw up in my face. Please don’t do that (firstly because…ewww..but secondly because, since I’m not actually there with you, that means your throwing up on either your computer keyboard or phone and I just don’t want to feel the guilt and responsibility that comes with the cleanup of said disgustingness). Ok, the green secret? A little matcha green tea powder (mixed with a touch of mint to tone down the bitterness and up the Santa Cool factor). The red secret? Beet juice! Trust me when I say you can’t taste it at all. Even if you could though, beets are naturally sweet and pair very well with desserts (it’s what I use when I make red velvet cupcakes, and trust me when I tell you that I’ve never had anyone say “They’re really good, but do I detect a soupçon of beets in here?” On the other hand, with so many red velvet based desserts, the main ingredient seems to be red food colouring. To the point where I actually do feel like you can taste the artificiality of it. Or maybe that’s just my monacle-wearing snobbery showing?).
Now according to the interwebs (who have never lied or steered me wrong 😉 ), matcha green tea powder contains an antioxidant linked to fighting cancer, viruses and heart disease and beet juice has a bunch of recent studies claiming it can improve athletic performance, lower blood pressure and increase blood flow. So, you know, how can you not eat/ make this fudge? Those health properties make it sound not only virtuous, but also as though it will allow you to become immortal if you eat it – start picking out your superhero name now! 😉 (let’s completely ignore the myriad of studies however that point out how bad excessive consumption of sugar is for you. Or maybe the green tea and the beets cancel out the sugar, so you’ll just live a normal sized life span?).
All that being said though, those are purely justification reasons. If I’m being honest, I really only included both ingredients for their seasonal hues, but that can be our little secret ok? 😉
And now, let’s get our fudge on!
Matcha Fudge Ingredients
- 3/4 cup cashew butter (or make your own by processing in a food processor for about 15 minutes, scraping down sides occasionally)
- 1/4 cup coconut butter (or make your own by processing in a food processor for about 15 minutes, scraping down sides occasionally)
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon matcha green tea powder sifted
- 1 cup sifted icing sugar
Beet Orange Fudge Ingredients
- 3/4 cup cashew butter (or make your own by processing in a food processor for about 15 minutes, scraping down sides occasionally)
- 1/4 cup coconut butter (or make your own by processing in a food processor for about 15 minutes, scraping down sides occasionally)
- 3 tablespoons beet juice
- 1.5 teaspoons maple syrup
- 1.5 teaspoons strawberry jam (or jelly, you don’t want chunks of strawberry in it)
- 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 1/4 cups sifted icing sugar
Directions
1. Line an 8×8 glass dish with wax or parchment paper (or lightly grease it. The wax paper just makes it easier to take the fudge out afterwards, but it’s not necessary).
2. Using a double boiler, allow the water in the bottom to get to simmering, then lower heat to medium-low (or if you don’t have a double boiler, you can use a small saucepan, just make sure to keep the heat on your stove really low and stir constantly). Add all the ingredients except the icing sugar and green tea powder. Stir constantly until everything is smoothly melted together (the coconut butter will likely take the longest).
3. Stir in the green tea powder.
4. Pour into a large bowl and stir in icing sugar a half cup at a time. The mixture is fairly thick at this point so feel free to get in there and work the mixture together with your hands.
5. Dump the mixture into your prepared dish and spread it out as best you can to fill the dish. I laid a little parchment paper on top of the mixture and pressed down with a heavy glass to smooth it out.
6. Place in the refrigerator or freezer until firm while making the Beet Orange Fudge.
7. Repeat step 2 with the Beet Orange Fudge Ingredients (except you can put in everything except the icing sugar). Repeat step 4.
8.Remove matcha mint fudge from the freezer and repeat step 5 pressing the beet orange fudge on top of the matcha fudge.
9. Return to fridge or freezer until firm. Remove from fridge or freezer cut into small pieces.
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