Bake With Bree: Friendship Fudge

A recipe inspired by International Day of Friendship

Today is International Day of Friendship so what better recipe could I offer you than my Friendship Fudge?

The Bree McCready novels are essentially adventure stories with a 'good versus evil' theme but there is also is a tender undercurrent that runs throughout the books about friendship, love and never giving up on the people you care about. Bree and Sandy have a solid friendship...and every girl needs a boy best friend, right? Theirs is a beautiful connection - they are 'kindred spirits, two leaves caught up in the same breeze'.

The pair have known one another all their lives and share a bond strengthened by grief and not fitting in. When they meet Honey Pizazz outside the school library it's like destiny has worked its magic. The trio are inseparable from this moment on, totally made for one another. Yes, they argue, and yes, there are tensions between them but isn't this true for any solid friendship? What matters is that they are there for one another every step of the way. The secret they share keeps them close. Their lives quite literally depend on them sticking together.

My Friendship Fudge is a very simple recipe - basically two ingredients - and it's almost illegal in its content so you only need the tiniest piece to satisfy your sweet craving. Dentists and dietitians across the world will hate me for this one!

I've made this fudge before but this time I wanted to make it more specific to Bree, Sandy and Honey - after all, this blog was inspired by the Bree McCready books!

So I thought there could be a deep, dark layer to symbolise Sandy Greenfield with his messy mop of "the blackest hair imaginable"...

...a lighter brown layer to symbolise Bree's eyes - "like polished mahogany"...

... and sandwiched between the two would be a lighter, sweet layer of white chocolate, tinted a pale pink, an ode to Honey Pizazz's pastel pink beret and strawberry bubblegum that we can see on the cover of Bree McCready and the Half Heart Locket.

In order to achieve the three layered effect I needed three different types of chocolate - plain for Sandy, milk for Bree and white for Honey (with a few drops of pink food colouring added). Other than the different chocolate flavours the three batches of fudge are made in exactly the same way.

I noticed that the plain, dark chocolate sets slightly differently to the other two. Why this is I'm not sure, perhaps it has something to do with the high percentage of cocoa solids? So it might be a good idea to add a couple of tablespoons of milk to this batch to allow it to run freely from the pan. I'm not too fazed about how it turned out as it gave my fudge an extra something, a firmer foundation to compliment the two squidgier layers. A bit like Sandy - solid and dependable with a slightly hard exterior and softer centre!

So, here's what you'll need:

Ingredients

500g each of milk, plain and white chocolate.

This is rather a lot of chocolate which can add up in price but I used Tesco Everyday Value bars which cost about 30p each and I was more than happy with the end result.

3 x 400g of Condensed milk

A few drops of vanilla essence

Pink food colouring

For the dark chocolate 'Sandy' layer -

Measure out 400g of condensed milk.

Break up 500g of plain chocolate.

Add the condensed milk, chocolate pieces and 5 drops of vanilla essence to a large saucepan. If you would like a softer consistency to the finished fudge this is where you add 2 tablespoons of milk.

Melt everything on a low heat, stirring often, until it's smooth.

Transfer to a square tin, lined with parchment. This makes it easier to remove the fudge when it's set.

Put this in the fridge to set while you prepare the white chocolate layer.

For the white chocolate 'Honey' layer -

This time add a teaspoon of pink food colouring to the 400g of condensed milk before you put it on the heat (see illustration above).

Break up 500g of white chocolate and add this and the pink condensed milk to a saucepan. Follow the same steps as before, melting everything and then pouring it over the bottom, dark chocolate layer.

Allow this to set for about half an hour in the fridge.

For the milk chocolate 'Bree' layer -

Follow exactly the same steps, this time using 400g of condensed milk and 500g of milk chocolate.

Pour the melted milk chocolate mixture over the white layer of fudge and place back in the fridge for a good couple of hours. The firmer the fudge, the easier it will be to handle.

When the fudge has set well pull it from the tin using the edges of the parchment paper.