On Saturday night I received a couple of cool gifts from my older sister. The gifts included a really nice watch and a Ghirardelli Intense dark chocolate bar. For those of you who aren’t up to date on your Ghirardelli chocolates, this chocolate bar is 86% cacao, and less sugar than most chocolate bars. But I’m not bitter, even if the chocolate was.
Really, I prefer dark chocolate, so I’m not blaming my sister. Who really pays attention to the percentage of cacao in their chocolate? Not me, until I bit into the chocolate bar on Monday, and tried to swallow it.
I’ve had some bad experiences with chocolate, starting when I was three. My mother ate an old piece of Easter candy while we were cleaning (which I advised her against) and promptly spat it out. The most recent happened in Geography class right after Halloween. We had just started learning about Africa and my teacher started class by asking us to raise our hand if we had eaten any Halloween chocolate. Almost everyone had, including our teacher. We then watched a video “The Bitter Truth” about children who are kidnapped from Burkina Faso and taken to Ghana where they’re forced to work on cacao farms with dangerous tools and hazardous chemicals. You can imagine how we were all feeling after the video, thanks Mr. Froehlke.
I was not too discouraged, though my taste buds and conscience were hesitant. After all, what is chocolate of any kind, but a dessert just waiting to happen?
I’ve never made candy or anything like it, at least not successfully. A few years ago I tried making toffee, but the result was just saltines coated in butter and brown sugar. Fudge seemed like a more reasonable challenge. The recipe I found was on the back of a Marshmallow Crème container so I didn’t think it would be too hard. With a few adjustments, the recipe gave me a perfect use for the bitter chocolate bar.
After this cooking endeavor I’ve realized that the saying is true: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade and when your sister gives you bitter chocolate, make fudge.
I’m Not Bitter Fudge
1/2 cup marshmallow Crème
1 cup bitter chocolate (broken into chunks)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter
1. Put Marshmallow Crème and chocolate chunks into a bowl, set aside.
2. In a sauce pan, mix evaporated milk, sugar, and a tablespoon of butter on medium-high heat.
3. Bring to a boil, while constantly stirring.
4. Continue boiling and stirring until temperature has reach 233o(F) on the candy thermometer, then add the rest of the butter.
5. Once all the butter has melted, remove from heat and pour immediately into the boiling chocolate and Marshmallow Crème. Mix until thorough blended.
6. Pour into a greased 9x9in. pan and let stand for half an hour then finish hardening in the fridge for another half hour. Store in fridge.
