December 4, 2020
Unpretentious Cooking: Cashew Butter Fudge
Try this fudge as an alternative to chocolate or peanut butter
Christmas cookies are great, but I much prefer holiday confections: fudge, divinity, pralines, haystacks, truffles, and nougat are some of my favorites. Rather than add more options to Christmas cookies this year, I plan to offer you holiday confections to make on the weekend, published every Friday in December. Add these to your cookie list, include them in tins, or set some out for family to snack on during the holiday. This recipe is from my Grandma, who took making fudge seriously. Her cashew butter fudge is the easiest to execute and is a crowd pleaser. I prefer adding chopped cashews to the fudge to add texture, but if you want smoother fudge feel free to leave the cashews out. If you want to make the fudge more decadent, top with ganache after cooling completely.
Cashew Butter Fudge
Ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter
2 cups packed light brown sugar
½ cup half-and-half
1 cup cashew butter
1 cup chopped cashews (optional)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
Flakey salt, to garnish
Directions
- Lightly grease an 8×8-inch pan and line it with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 sides.
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and half-and-half and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then continue to boil for 2 minutes without stirring. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cashew butter, salt, and vanilla until combined.
- In a large bowl, add the powdered sugar. Pour the hot cashew butter mixture over the sugar and whisk until no streaks remain. It will look clumpy; just keep stirring. Fold in chopped cashews. Scrape the fudge into the prepared baking dish and smooth the top. Fold the parchment over the warm fudge, press it directly onto the surface and refrigerate until completely chilled, about 2 hours.
- Pull back the parchment paper folded on top and lift the fudge out of the baking dish, garnish with flaky salt and cut into squares. Fudge will keep for 1 week stored in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
