Every Christmas our mother would make three different kinds of fudges. We would carefully wrap a selection in crackly difficult, transparent cellophane, then we gathered the corners together, with a red ribbon, tied in a bow. We made a number of little packages. A large number. Us kids would make tiny cards that we attached to the ribbons and then with baskets loaded with fudge we would walk along the beach and around the block giving out our Mothers little christmas gifts to all the neighbours she knew. She knew plenty. Everyone smiled at us. We were as popular as the florists delivery boy.
Of the three fudges that I remember making, I have the actual recipe for the Russian Fudge. This seems to have its origins in an old Scottish fudge called Tablet. Though that does not explain where the Russian came in. It is definitely one of the retro recipes. I have cruised the New Zealand sugary sites, comparing Mums recipe to others, and they are all almost exactly the same so I think if I look further I will find a 50’s version in New Zealand Woman’s Weekly or The Edmonds Cookbook something.
It is NOT HEALTHY! There is no way round it! It should come with a warning as it is so More-ish and so simple to make. 
Russian Fudge:
3 tablespoons of Golden Syrup. (I cannot find Golden Syrup out here on the plains, so I used sorghum/molasses which is close. But Golden Syrup is the NZ flavour. )
1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk
3 1/2 cups white sugar (told you it was bad for you)
4 oz (about 125 grams) butter
1/2 cup milk
pinch of salt
Heat all the ingredients to a gentle rolling boil, stir occassionally, after about 10 minutes drop a little into cold water, if it balls you are done. (or slowly heat up to 150C, though mine was ready before it got that hot) Take off the heat. Add 1 big tsp of vanilla. Now the important bit. Beat with a hand beater until it looks duller and is thicker. I beat it for at least 5 minutes. But it is cooling, so once you feel it change consistency and get thicker, quickly pour into a greased pie dish. Mark your little squares with a knife while it is soft.
When it is cool. About an hour for those of you who can’t wait! Cut into tiny blocks. Eat one tiny piece and give the rest away as fast as you can! This wee morsel just melts in your mouth!
For some extraordinary reason this is perfect with a wee dram of cognac. In the bad old days I often took a medicinal shot of good cognac just before I went on stage. It warms the vocal chords, I would tell my disapproving stage manager, as she gave me the five minute call.
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
115 responses to “Little Party nibbles: Mama’s Russian Fudge”
Another winner…this sounds like it tastes like something I remember from childhood but having had since…I feel like I “know” it in some way. So can’t wait to try it. Question: now that you’re in the US, have you ever eaten maple sugar fudge/candy? God, that is good too.
No I haven’t.. do you have the recipe? i shall look for it. I do not really have a sweet tooth but I have two here who do, and a fantastic maple syrup supplier. great idea. c
I remember when I worked in Glasgow and it took me ages to work out what Tablet was 🙂
Tablet is such a generic name, it does not describe it at all, so scottish.. c
You can find Lyle’s Golden syrup on line either at lylesgoldensyrup.com or at the Englishteastore,
The cost is $4.33 a one pound tin.
Happy indulging.
Ronnie
Straight to heaven you are going!! c
I come from a family of fudge lovers and they all like their fudge a little different- one wants soft fudge, the other hard and crumbly. Which category would you say your Mama’s falls into C? It kinda looks between the two? Ahh, what the heck, think I will just make your Mama’s recipe anyway and hopefully satisfy everybody as the microwave recipe I have doesn’t quite do the trick for everybody’s taste.
🙂 Mandy
Well it is smooth and a wee bit crunchy, how do I describe such a thing, it will crumble slightly when you bite into it, them melt in your mouth, it is not soft yet it is smooth. Now I sound like a bad hallmark card (laugh). Let me know how they like it. c
I ran to the kitchen very excited to make your recipe and I don’t have the tin of condensed milk I thought was in the cupboard – so it will have to wait until I get to the shops again C. Will report back soonest. 🙂 xo
That is so funny mandy, when i decided to make them I did the exact same thing, I know I have a tin hiding in there somewhere. Luckily the little village store two towns over had some! c
Wow..check out the amount of sugar in that!! It is the holidays after all and I could just see the smiles of those receiving these!! It’s all about balance, I’m totally not against having a treat and spoiling myself every now and then. Now, if only I was in walking distance of your farmy, I’d invite you in for a cup of tea for one of those fudgey squares!!
they do go very nicely with tea too, I have my cache all in little packages at the door waiting to be delivered. I simply cannot have them in the house! john would pop them into his mouth one after the other and then we would have to go out and buy him new teeth!! c
The fudge sounds wonderful. I can see why it would be wrapped and given out to friends. It would be too tempting if left open for fingers to grab a sweet morsel.
Thank you Karen, you should have seen Our John’s eyes light up when he tasted it. c
Oh yummm.. Something to try for the holidays!
It is a holiday treat for sure Mimo.. c
At first I though “Fudge, no can do” and then I saw the recipe and it has no chocolate – yay! Cognac for “medicinal” reasons, eh? 😉 t
It is desperately easy miss T and so fast with only one pot to clean up afterwards! c
Why wee dram of cognac? 😉
You are absolutely right why not TWO wee drams of cognac! c
My son and I will be making this recipe this weekend. He is nine and loves to cook and make candy. This looks simple enough that I am going to give it a whirl!
When I helped Mum, my job was the whipping with the electric beater (mum would set the hot pot into the empty kitchen sink so it did not fall onto anyone and I sat on a stool) and then most important job: the drawing of lines on top of the fudge as it cooled. Plus (and this is important to you and I) the clean up is a snap! c
Yum, I will have to make this for hubby as he hasn’t had fudge since his dad, who was Scottish used to get it from his own ma. E
great, let me know how it works out, remember this is the kiwi version. hope he likes it. the scottish one does not have golden syrup in it. c
Fudge is just the best thing! 🙂 Evidence Matters did a round up post for the peanut brittle thing and referred to a great article by Alex Renton on sugar and sweets and tablet is mentioned in that article too. My old flat mate came from Glasgow and he loves tablet, and bun, which is a fruit pudding boiled in a a bag. However my current favourite fudge is the one from the toffee shop in Penrith. Sticky toffee pudding is another toothsome delight, do you have that on the plains, a steamed pudding made with dates and covered in hot fudgey sauce and frazzled under the grill. Back to my steamed green veggies now xxx
BUN! I have a distant memory of that, Mum used to make a boiled pudding in a bag, I shall look through her book.. but I can’t find the dried fruit out here, you know for christmas cake fruit mix? in the box, with the yucky candied peel in it.. I am going to have to send home for a red cross box of food stuff again.. and NO I have not seen the yummy sticky toffee pudd.. I would love that recipe.. c
Make your own candied peel? Or if you hate it leave it out of the cake altogether 🙂 Loads of versions of the sticky toffee pudding around here’s a Jamie Oliver one http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/other-recipes/sticky-toffee-pudding xx
Thanks Joanna, I shall do some trials.. c
Here’s the link if you are curiuos http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2006/may/28/foodanddrink.features2
Yum! I’ve been meaning to make some fudge. Yours looks delicious.
It is… thank you yummy.. c
Oh, I have such a sweet tooth…yum! I am going to try this recipe ~ then try to give some away!
Jess
I gave away heaps of it this morning Jess and now i have to make some more..it is going so fast.. c