I want to make fudge

[pastapestoparmesan]

...but I don’t have a sugar thermometer. Is it possible, or will I burn the house down?

We made the carnation recipe at Christmas no thermometer called for. Bloody gorgeous but unfortunately we did something wrong as it didn't set.

Tin condensed milk, 200g dark and 200g milk chocolate. Melt in a microwave add to milk and a couple of teaspoons of vanilla essence. Not quite proper fudge but tastes great.

You don't need a thermometer, use a bowl of icy water to test the setting point. Nigella's recipe is good, but I always continue to bubble for a little longer until the mixture just starts to catch and brown to give it more flavour.

www.nigella.com/recipes/vanilla-fudge

I once tried and it didn't set..there was tons of it so scraped back into pan and boiled again. No ill effects from my method.

This is a good recipe (Waitrose magazine). I didn't have a thermometer and the first lot didn't set but the next batch I boiled until it was like lava and then did the cold water testing method and it came out delicious.

Amazing, thank you all so much for those speedy and delicious responses. I’m definitely going for it!

I've never used a thermometer, just done the soft ball method in water as mentioned by pp. Just remember to heat slowly, and constantly stir or you'll get burnt bits. Mmmmm, if you need a tester send some this way!