Vanilla and muscovado fudge

Makes about 60 pieces

You will need:

1 x 397g tin of condensed milk 100g butter 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 450g light muscovado sugar

1Put the tinned condensed milk, the butter, the vanilla extract and the light muscovado sugar in a saucepan sitting over a low-to-medium heat. 2 Bring the saucepan to the boil while stirring all the time. Boil the mixture for about 10 minutes, still stirring all the time (do not let it burn on the bottom) until a sugar thermometer dipped into the mixture reaches 113°C, 235°F. If you don’t have a sugar thermometer, you can check that the fudge has reached the soft-ball stage. To test for this, put a half-teaspoon blob of the fudge into a bowl of cold water — it should be firm but malleable, like a soft ball.

3Once the fudge is ready, remove the saucepan from the heat and sit the bottom of the saucepan in a bowl or sink of cold water that comes up 2cm-3cm on the outside of the pan. Stir until the fudge cools down a bit — it will go from smooth, shiny and toffeeish, to looking matte in appearance, and thick and grainy. 4 Scrape the contents of the saucepan into a 20cm x 20cm square cake tin, or to cover about two-thirds of a small Swiss-roll tin or baking tray. The fudge should be about 1cm thick. Let it cool, then cut the fudge into little squares. Store the fudge for one month.