Thursday, November 3, 2022

Hazelnut Fudge @LucyBurdette





LUCY BURDETTE: This is not an actual holiday post, but I guarantee that if you made these for a holiday party, your guests would be very, very pleased. If you're not hosting a late Halloween party, save this for Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's because, ditto, your guests will thank you!

As a side note, in Fatal Reservations, the 6th Key West food critic mystery, Hayley Snow makes this recipe for a friend accused of murder. As she puts it: “It was the kind of treat that read: ‘You deserve this lump of sweetness. We love you. We’re so, so, so sorry.’ Half frozen oatmeal raisin cookies simply couldn't do the same job. They couldn't shoulder the same emotional load as organic hazelnut fudge sprinkled with pink sea salt.”

This is a super easy dessert that involves no baking. I’ve served it with chocolate ice cream to be extra fancy. I’m not even a fudge lover, but I’m crazy for this recipe. Everyone else will be, too!




Ingredients

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup good quality bittersweet chocolate chips

1 cup Nocciolata (organic chocolate-hazelnut spread; I used the whole 9 1/2-ounce jar)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon sea salt or pink salt

Line an 8 x 8-inch pan with two crisscrossed layers of parchment paper. 

In a stainless-steel bowl or the top of a double-boiler, stir together the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, chocolate chips, hazelnut spread, and butter. Put an inch of water in a saucepan and bring it to a simmer.
Place the bowl over the pot of simmering water. (The bowl should not touch the water.) Stir until the chocolate chips are melted and the mixture is smooth, 5 to 7 minutes.




Scrape the mixture into the papered pan, smooth the top, and sprinkle with sea salt, pink if you have it. Refrigerate until the fudge is firm, at least 2 hours.




Lift the fudge out of the pan using the parchment paper. Cut the fudge into bite-sized pieces and arrange on a pretty plate. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. The fudge can also be made ahead and frozen.




A DISH TO DIE FOR is now available wherever books are sold!

About A Dish to Die For (#12 in the Key West food critic mystery series):

Peace and quiet are hard to find in bustling Key West, so Hayley Snow, food critic for Key Zest magazine, is taking the afternoon off for a tranquil lunch with a friend outside of town. As they are enjoying the wild beach and the lunch, she realizes that her husband Nathan’s dog, Ziggy, has disappeared. She follows his barking, to find him furiously digging at a shallow grave with a man’s body in it. Davis Jager, a local birdwatcher, identifies him as GG Garcia, a rabble-rousing Key West local and developer. Garcia was famous for over-development on the fragile Keys, womanizing, and refusing to follow city rules—so it’s no wonder he had a few enemies.

When Davis is attacked in the parking lot of a local restaurant after talking to Hayley and her dear friend, the octogenarian Miss Gloria, Hayley is slowly but surely drawn into the case. Hayley’s mother, Janet, has been hired to cater GG’s memorial service reception at the local Woman’s Club, using recipes from their vintage Key West cookbook—and Hayley and Miss Gloria sign on to work with her, hoping to cook up some clues by observing the mourners.

But the real clues appear when Hayley begins to study the old cookbook, as whispers of old secrets come to life, dragging the past into the present—with murderous results.

Kirkus Reviews said:

“Key West food critic Hayley Snow proves once again that she understands crime as well as cuisine. A suitably steamy background for a complex tale of murder and deceit.”






12 comments:

  1. OH! That definitely sounds delicious and I will be trying it. Thank you for the recipe.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  2. Yum! I know what I'm trying when I make my Christmas goodies this year.

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  3. This looks good and the recipe looks easy thank you for sharing and hubby and I will include this in our neighborhood holidays sweet giveaway peggy clayton

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  4. This sounds oh SO good! And really easy, too.

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  5. This recipe goes straight to the top of my Must Make list!

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  6. I enjoy reading your mysterys and emails. I made your fugde this morning and it came out well but I haven't tried it yet because I'm waiting for it to set, but my whole house smells divine thank you for the recipe I'm sure I'll be enjoying it tomorrow. Kat

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