The holiday fudge-making continues! With the eggnog fudge under my belt, it was time to try this one out. Ideally, I’m planning on the gift boxes having 4 pieces of fudge – eggnog, pecan pie, red velvet and peppermint oreo. I now have 2 for sure because this one was AMAZING!! The photo can’t possibly do it justice. It’s a fairly soft fudge (my fave, I’ve never been a fan of hard fudge) that tastes of maple and pecan pie flavors and is seriously beyond ridiculously delicious.
It’s an “easy fudge” so the actual fudge portion is as simple as heating the ingredients until they melt. No specific temperature needs to be reached, no soft ball tests, etc. It’s pretty much fail-proof. The most important part is the mixing after adding in the extracts. You need to mix it enough so it will firm enough for cooling, but overmixing will make it end up tasting grainy. While I didn’t want it extra firm, you do want it to end up solid enough for easy cutting. My instructions should hopefully guide you in how to achieve this. I had no problem on the first try and my instructions reflect exactly what I did.
The addition of the pie crust on the bottom is such a great idea! At first when I decided to try this fudge recipe, I didn’t think I would bother with the crust but a friend said to go for it because it would probably be really good. She was right and the crust plus the toasted pecans on add great textures to the fudge.
I used a super flaky pie crust which tastes great and worked, but it’s almost too flaky for this fudge. Some of it ended up flaking off when I cut it. So maybe go for a slightly less flaky crust, but even if you use one as flaky as the one I did, it will still taste amazing. The only other potential issue was with how the recipe I followed advised to do everything. In the end, the fudge stuck a bit to the sides of the pan and the bottom (due to the pie crust having shrunk down a bit after cooking, so then some of the fudge ended up on the bottom of the pan around the edges). I believe the solution to this is to remove the pie crust after it’s done (carefully, of course), place parchment down and then return the crust to the pan and pour the fudge in when it’s done. This way once it cools everything will be much easier because then you can pull the whole thing out by the parchment paper, peel the fudge off and cut it on a cutting board. So my instructions will include that guidance and hopefully it will make it easier for others at the cutting stage. I will be trying that out the next time I make it which will be in a couple of weeks and will update the recipe at all if necessary.
For this batch, I’m freezing it until Thanksgiving. I placed it down on a long piece of parchment that was able to wrap over the top and then wrapped that all in plastic wrap. I think it should work well with this one, so long as I thaw it in the refrigerator and not at room temperature (this should yield less moisture in the thawing process). I’ll add notes in here if needed, depending on how it ends up after freezing.
Ilya and I can’t stop eating this fudge because it is so good, and I brought some of it with me today when we visited my mom at a craft show. She gave some to her fellow crafters there and it was a huge hit. If you’re looking for something sweet for the holidays this year, I highly recommend trying this out. It’s easy but looks and tastes super deluxe.
Pecan Pie Fudge
Ingredients
For Toasted Pecans:
- 1+1/2 cups pecan pieces (you can either buy them already chopped into pieces, or buy whole ones and coursely chop them yourself)
For Pie Crust:
- 1 9" refrigerated pie crust
For Fudge:
- 1/2 cup dark corn syrup
- 1/3 cup evaporated milk (I used full-fat and am not sure how it would come out using low-fat)
- 3 cups white chocolate chips (make sure they are full cups. If you don't use enough chocolate chips it will not set up properly)
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp. maple extract (if you're able to get pure maple extract, that's best, but you can also use imitation maple extract/flavor for this)
Instructions
For Toasted Pecans:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.
- Spread the pecans out evenly on the baking sheet. Bake for 1 minute, then shake the baking sheet or use a spatula to redistribute the pecans, then stick them back in the oven and cook for another couple of minutes, until you can smell them (mine took about 5 minutes total baking time).
- When done, remove from oven and set aside. (leave oven on and leave at 400 degrees F, as you will be cooking the pie crust at the same temperature).
For Pie Crust:
- Unroll the pie crust and cut into an 8" square (I set my 8" square pan on top of the crust, then cut the crust along each side and it worked perfectly).
- Place the crust in an 8" x 8" square pan (it's ok if it's slightly larger than the bottom of the pan, as it will shrink a bit when it cooks).
- Poke the crust several times with a fork, then bake for 10-12 minutes until the crust is golden around the edges.
- When the crust is done, remove from oven and carefully remove the crust to a cooling rack or large plate (if it breaks, it's not a really big deal, since it's on the bottom and no one will see or notice). When the pan has cooled enough (should only take a few minutes), line it with parchment paper (long enough to come up and over the sides), then place the crust back in the pan on top of the parchment paper and make the fudge.
For Fudge:
- Place the corn syrup, evaporated milk, white chocolate chips and brown sugar in a medium-sized saucepan and stir to combine.
- Heat, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat until chocolate chips are completely melted and the mixture is completely smooth.
- Turn the burner off, add in the vanilla extract and maple extract and stir in. The fudge will start to look like it has a shiny coating when you start mixing in the extracts. Continue mixing for about a minute, until it starts to lose a bit of the shine. You don't want to under mix it or it won't firm up enough for easy cutting, but you don't want to overmix it, as this will make it end up grainy. I would say it's better to slightly under mix it rather than overmix it, because if it ends up a bit too soft for cutting, you can stick it in the freezer for about 45 minutes and then cut it and it should work fine, but if you overmix it and it's grainy, it won't taste good.
For Assembly/Chilling/Serving:
- Transfer the fudge onto the crust in the pan, trying to spread/pour it out evenly over the crust. As you spread/pour it onto the crust, it will weigh the crust down in the pan, so you want to get it out evenly to avoid the crust breaking.
- Immediately spread the pecans out evenly across the top of the fudge, then press down lightly on them so they all sink slightly into the top of the fudge (this will make sure they stay put).
- Cool the fudge to room temperature out on the counter, and then you can finish cooling it on the counter, in the refrigerator or freezer, depending on how long you have before you need it. I put it in the freezer for the rest of the time, since I was in a bit of a time crunch today. It took about 1+1/2 hours in there to get firm enough to where I could cut it. Also, if for whatever reason you cool yours at room temperature or in the refrigerator but it doesn't get firm enough for cutting, stick it in the freezer for a while until it's firm enough to cut.
- When the fudge has cooled enough to cut, pull the parchment paper to lift the fudge out. Cut the fudge into squares or into triangles to make them look like little slices of pie.
- Store the fudge in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Remove desired amount of fudge about 1/2 hour before serving and store remaining fudge in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. You should also be able to freeze this fudge to make it last longer, so long as you thaw it in the refrigerator and not at room temperature (this should reduce moisture in the thawing process). I froze mine to be taken out and used on Thanksgiving. If for some reason it doesn't taste right or thaw right, I'll modify the notes here.
Notes
Recipe adapted from http://www.crazyforcrust.com/2013/11/pecan-pie-fudge/