Nigella's Chocolate Pistachio Fudge

I have been a little busy recently, both at work and with having the kitchen redone (there will be photos, but perhaps not yet, as it still needs to be tiled and redecorated) and my time and motivation to blog has fallen slightly by the wayside. I have still be making lots of things though, so the backlog (an ever-present problem for me) has been building steadily.

In line with needing to make something quick and easy, and not having all that much time, this post will be short and sweet, rather like the fudge it describes. I often flick through books I bought a while ago, and happened to be flicking through Nigella Express recently, not really with anything in mind, when the page with the chocolate pistachio fudge caught my eye. So pretty. So easy. And fairly quick too - just need to let it cool and set. It's the perfect thing for those in need of an easy sweet treat to make. No baking required, and only four ingredients too.

You can find the original recipe for Chocolate Pistachio Fudge on Nigella's website. Regular followers will be wondering about the pistachio of the title. No, I cannot magically eat them, but instead substituted dried cherries for the nuts. A different texture, I grant you, but not an unpleasant one. Admittedly, the contrast of the green nuts and the dark fudge is rather more photogenic than the rather unremitting brown of my fudge, but never mind. 

I adapted the recipe slightly and give my amounts here:
Chocolate Cherry Fudge
Ingredients
300g condensed milk
260g dark chocolate (I used G&B Cooks 72% chocolate here)
22g butter
90g dried cherries, chopped a bit smaller

Method
- Line a 20cm/8" square tin with clingfilm/wrap.
- Melt butter, condensed milk and chocolate in a large pan over a low heat.
- Mix in chopped cherries.
- Spoon into prepared tin and level. Allow to cool before refrigerating.
- When set, cut into 64 pieces and store in the freezer.

I have only one small gripe about this recipe - there seemed to be a slight fatty deposit on the top of the fudge which is really not very attractive. I don't know why this is, perhaps I overheated the mixture? It doesn't matter all that much because I know what it is, and it's only me that'll be eating this rather than my colleagues, but I'm not sure how to prevent it next time. 

Hmm, unphotogenic fatty bit....

That aside, this is beautifully smooth and rather more-ish to eat too. Not too sweet and the cherries add a good textural contrast. Having this in the freezer is pretty dangerous though... I wasn't convinced that it would be good to eat straight from the freezer, but it really, really is. Not too hard to bite into at all, and I can hear it calling me as I type. It'll make a great 'freezer-raider' snack!

When I thought about this fudge it fulfils the criteria for a number of the blogging challenges this month.

We Should Cocoa, hosted this month by Janice of Farmersgirl Kitchen, founded by Choclette of Choc Log Blog and Chele of Chocolate Teapot. The theme this month is cherries and although I made a lovely cake with fresh cherries in it I haven't had chance to post it and we're at the deadline now.

Forever Nigella, hosted this month by Karen of Lavender and Lovage, and founded by Sarah of Maison Cupcake, where the theme is 'Fridge Raider Snacks'.

Bookmarked Recipes, hosted by Jac of Tinned Tomatoes, because this is a recipe I've been meaning to get round to making for ever such a long time now - I don't know what took me so long as it's so simple and quick to do.

Sarah of Maison Cupcake has also launched a 'No Bake' challenge, born from her lack of a kitchen for a period this summer. I can empathise with that feeling, although mine didn't take quite as long as Sarah's to change. I feel eminently qualified to enter the no-bake challenge!

Finally, I think this would make a good 'Sporting Snack' and am submitting it to Ren's Sporting Snacks challenge on Fabulicious Food.