Almost Picnic Fudge

Rich and decadent Chocolate Fudge filled with peanuts, chewy caramel and vanilla wafers.

Fudge has become one of my favourite treats to make. It’s easy and delicious and, because of its richness, it goes a long way. Almost Picnic Fudge is a rich and creamy combination of ingredients made to mimic my favourite chocolate bar – The Picnic.

Almost Picnic Fudge is everything fudge should be – sweet and decadent and it has all the components of that yummy chocolate bar. Peanuts, chewy caramel, vanilla wafer and of course, chocolate. The only difference is the chocolate is in fudge form. The real star of this show though, is definitely the caramel. Just a word of warning, straight out of the fridge the caramel can be a little hard but, give it an hour to come to room temp and, BAM!, the caramel becomes perfect, chewy bliss. 

Imagine a piece of chocolatey, caramelly fudge, while you’re sitting on the couch with a nice cup of coffee. Bite by little bite to make it last as long as possible because seriously, if people see this stuff sitting on your kitchen bench, it’ll be gone in no time.

Fudge makes a great Christmas gift too. Just look how gorgeous these would be all boxed up with some pretty ribbon. A perfect treat for your family and friends. Fudge keeps pretty well. I would say eat it within a week but it won’t last that long anyway so no need for concern there 🙂

If you love fudge as much as I do, check out my other fudge recipes

• Chocolate Fudge with Raspberry Cream
• Creamy Lemon Fudge 
• Salted Caramel Fudge (yes, you heard me correctly and you’re welcome :)) 

Having a look over that list it occurs to me that my fudge recipes are the most viewed recipes on my entire blog, so I know you’ll want to try Almost Picnic Fudge too. Enjoy 🙂

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Almost Picnic Fudge

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Total Time

35 mins

 

Rich and decadent Chocolate Fudge filled with peanuts, chewy caramel and vanilla wafers

Course: Dessert, Snack, Sweets

Servings: 20

Author: Marie

Ingredients

Chewy Caramel

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 200 ml double cream
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup glucose (or light corn syrup)
• 1 cup sugar

Milk Chocolate Fudge

• 395 g can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons glucose (or light corn syrup) - see note 1
• 1/4 cup golden syrup chopped
• 125 g butter, chopped
• 180 g milk chocolate, finely chopped

Other

• 1/2 cup unsalted peanuts
• 125 g vanilla wafer biscuits

Instructions

1. Line a 20x30cm baking tin with baking paper. At the end of the process, everything needs to move quickly so have your peanuts and wafers ready to go.

For the caramel:

1. Melt together the butter and cream in a small saucepan. Don't boil.
2. In a large saucepan, combine water, glucose and sugar making sure no sugar hits the sides of pan. Gently move around with a fork and heat over low heat until sugar has dissolved. Bring to a simmer then place the lid in the saucepan for 2 minutes (the steam created will help dissolve any sugar crystals around the edge). Remove the lid and continue to boil the mixture until it starts to turn golden (a thermometer should read 160C / 320F).
3. Add half the cream mixture (be very careful as it will splutter a bit). Carefully stir it into the caramel, then add the rest of the cream mix and mix through until fully combined. A silicone whisk works really well here. Bring the mixture back to the boil for about 5 minutes. It should get nice and golden brown. (The temperature should get back to 115C / 240F). Remove from heat.

For the fudge:

1. Start by chopping the chocolate up finely.
2. Combine the sweetened condensed milk, sugar, glucose, golden syrup and butter in a heavy based saucepan. Stir, without boiling, until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer and simmer while stirring for another 6-8 minutes until the mixture starts to come away from the side of the pan (when you stir, you will clearly see the side or bottom of pan before the mixture covers it up again).
4. Take the mixture off the heat and stir through the chocolate until fully melted and incorporated. At this point you may need to gently reheat the caramel sauce and stir until nice and smooth again and able to pour.

Assembling the fudge:

1. Pour half of the chocolate fudge mixture into the lined baking tin. Scatter over the peanuts and wafer pieces. Pour caramel evenly over top, then the remaining fudge. If the second half of fudge has already begun to set in the saucepan, just heat gently and stir until it becomes smooth and easy to pour again.

2. Leave for 30 minutes to cool at room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours before cutting into squares. It’s great straight from the fridge but the caramel can be hard so you can take out 1 hour before you want to serve it if you want the caramel to soften up a little if you prefer.

Recipe Notes

1. I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon