Fudge as presents: Tips please!

[boogiewoogie]

I'm going to attempt making fudge as Christmas presents for the DC's teachers this year instead of jammy dodgers. The thing is, cellophane bags look a bit boring, ballotin boxes are expensive for what they are and I can't get them anywhere on the high street. So what do you use to pack them in?


Also, I'm going to try and make ginger fudge as well as vanilla. There seems to be many different recipes to try. Anyone tried and tested ginger fudge recipes before?

Thanks for sharing tips!

[Thefoxsbrush]

Cellophane bags from eBay. You can get 20 with ties for less than £2. Lots of diff designs available too.

[Thefoxsbrush]

Ooops just saw you didn't like cellophane bags

[boogiewoogie]

No worries fox. :)

[Spagbolagain]

I use nice jars for sweets - just some smallish glass jars from chutneys or jams. You could put a piece of cloth over the lid with a rubber band, or even some wrapping paper to make festive! Can I ask what your vanilla fudge recipe is?

[boogiewoogie]

Oh, just one I found off the internet. Here.

[Moomoomie]

I have made my own boxes out of squares of pretty paper. Easy to make but difficult to describe, may be worth looking on google for tutorials.

[moosemama]

We tend to buy cheap jars from Ikea like these - which are actually a reasonable size compared to normal spice jars or these, for bigger quantities.

A cheap alternative to the normal cello bags is This sort of cone, but still not as nice as a jar.

These traditional sweetie jars are nice and reasonably priced at £7.99 for 6, but they're plastic not glass.

Similar on ebay here but probably works out cheaper when you consider delivery costs.

[ReshapeWhileDamp]

Could you buy some cheap cheap ceramic dishes? Sometimes stocked in fair trade shops and Oxfam and the like. Then use cello and ribbon to enclose with the 'tuft' of cello at the top.

[SeasonsGripings]

This is a fabulous Fudge recipe, taken from the old BBC Forums - credit due to a poster called "agedashi" who experimented like a woman heading for tooth rot to get the perfect balance of sweetness, creaminess and graininess.

I have made this recipe several times -occassionally with part brown suger, sometimes small part molasses...I haven't made it in ages and I'm so grateful that the BBC archived the old forum.

Personally I like food wrapped in cellophane.

Vanilla Fudge

1lb/450g granulated sugar
4oz/125g butter
1/2 pint of milk/condensed milk (I used 1/8 pint condensed and made it up to 1/2 pint with milk - if you're using less than 1/4 pint condensed, add more sugar at your discretion to make up the sugar content)
seeds from half a vanilla pod

Butter a tin about 6 x 8in/15 x 20cm and line it with baking parchment. Put all the ingredients together in a pan, and stir over a low heat until the sugar and butter have dissolved.

Bring to quite a fast boil, and continue cooking until it reaches 116C on a sugar thermometer. If no sugar thermometer, boil for about 20 minutes STIRRING CONSTANTLY, until the colour changes from a creamy colour to a light brown (squirrel?!). Take care not to burn, it's easily done.

When it reaches the correct temperature/colour/soft ball stage, remove from the heat and leave to cool for a couple of minutes. Then start stirring vigorously for about five minutes, or until the gloss is going, it's getting thick and going flaky around the sides of the bowl. The longer you beat the cooling fudge the grainier/harder the texture will be.

Pour quickly into the lined tin and leave to set. As it cools, cut into squares with a sharp knife.

[ReshapeWhileDamp]

That sounds great, SeasonsGripings! I'm going to try it out the next time I have another responsible adult around to corrall the DSs and keep them away from the boiling sugar!

[boogiewoogie]

Thanks for the recipe Seasons. I've got so many already now! As for the packaging. I googled how to make a box and have now bought pretty paper for making origami boxes with.

[Moomoomie]

That's the word i was looking for..... Origami.
The boxes are really easy yo make. You can also make them slightly smaller to use as a lid. Then tie with ribbon.
Home made all round!

[boogiewoogie]

Thanks for all the tips everyone. The fudge making was a success as were the boxes with lids. In the end, I used . The video is very funny and the instructions I can honestly say are fail safe having made two batches already. No sugar thermometer used, just good old cold water test.

[Selks]

Ah, what a timely thread...I'm making fudge this week and was wondering about packaging. I thought I might look out for some of those half sized 'kilner' type jars, anyone got any ideas where I might find some for a good price? Does Asda or anywhere have them?

[Selks]

Actually, I've just found this set of six sweet jars that I've bought here

[Selks]

Sorry, set of 20 jars

[Dancingyogi]

Bump for nocturn