Rum 'n raisin fudge pressies

My mum lives a fair way off from me so she's not always around to taste the delectables I make from time to time so I thought I'd make something special for her for Christmas... some fudge. My mum and I went to Bath last year and watched someone making fudge, their technique of pushing the fudge around with a paddle on a marble table and by someone so young aswell. Nonetheless the beating process is what makes the fudge all smooth and not at all crumbly or crystallised.

Fudge I find, isn't the easiest thing to make, it depends on which recipe version you use, I've seen recipes with glucose syrup, condensed milk, marshmallows and others where you need to use a sugar thermometer. I can't be fussed with that, so I just used an old trusted recipe with condensed milk. But because it takes a while to cook, next time I might just boil the tin of condensed milk in a pan of water for a few hours to caramelise (or you can just buy the caramel in a tin). That might speed up the process a bit I reckon. Oh and next time, I might use more rum....way more rum!!

Ingredients for fudge:-

1 tin condensed milk

150ml milk

450g brown sugar

115g butter

150g raisins

5tblsp rum

Method:-

Grease and line a 20cm baking tin, with greaseproof paper, ensuring some paper is hanging over the sides.

In a separate bowl, soak the raisins in the rum. Cover and leave for about an hour or longer if you wish.

In a pan, heat the milk, condensed milk, butter and sugar over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved completely. Slowly bring to the boil and stir for about 10-15 minutes.

This takes a while, but continue stirring. You will know this is ready when a little bit of the fudge is dropped into a glass of tepid water and it will form a round ball. This is called the 'soft ball' stage.

Remove from the heat, and using a whisk carefully beat the fudge until thick and grainy. The colour will also lighten as this happens. I wouldn't recommend a handbeater as the sugars are really hot and if it hits you, you will get burnt! Use those muscles instead I say!

Stir in the rum and the raisins and pour into the prepared tin. Leave to set - which will take about 2 hrs, then transfer to the fridge to harden properly.

Turns out, there was quite a bit for just the one jar - so I gave some to my sister aswell... and everyone ate fudge on Christmas Day!