DIY Christmas Pressies - Homemade Fudge

This year, I decided some homemade gifts would be a nice idea, and ones Birdy could get involved in, too.

I love to use my slow cooker for dinners but I haven't tried any sweet treats in it before, so I had a look online for some inspiration and decided to make chocolate orange flavoured fudge.

Recipe:

One can (397g_ sweetened condensed milk
200g milk chocolate
One Terry's Chocolate Orange (170g)

Method:

Switch the slow cooker to "high" and break up all the chocolate. Put all of the chocolate into the slow cooker bowl and cover with about three quarters of the can of condensed milk. Leave the lid off. Stir no more than once every 10 minutes. After 50 minutes, the mixture should have combined, melted together and should have a thick consistency.

Line a lasagne dish, or similar, with clingfilm, leaving plenty around the outside. Pour in the mixture and leave it to cool to room temperature. A little tip I use with any sort of cake mix is to leave a fork in a mug of hot water for a few minutes, and then use the fork to press down the mixture until even. This flattens the mixture but doesn't pick any of it up onto the fork.

Once cooled to room temperature, gently fold the margins of clingfilm over the top of the mix. Pop it in the fridge for at least 6 hours, but ideally overnight.

Once set, remove from the dish and cut into pieces.

Admittedly, my little one didn't get too involved in this at 14 months old - it would be better suited for slightly older children, and of course, make sure they're very careful not to hurt themselves on the slow cooker!

I had some small cellophane bags that I'd ordered for our wedding with the intention of using them as sweetie bags on our DIY sweetie stall, but I never used them as I found some traditional striped paper bags, instead. So, I dug them out and thought they were the perfect size to hold 6 or 7 chunks of homemade fudge.

I used sticky labels to write a Christmas message (do this before adding the fudge pieces, otherwise it will probably be impossible to stick it on straight!) and then secured the top of the bag with a piece of wrapping ribbon.

I did try the recipe with Toblerone and with Aero Mint - both tasted lovely but due to their different textures, didn't have as good a consistency as the Chocolate Orange. I imagine this recipe would work with most solid chocolates though, so give it a go!

I'd love to see your attempts on Instagram so if you try this at home, please tag me (GinaShergold1)!

Love, Gina xx