Chocolate Fudge

There's going to be a lot of fudge happening over the next few weeks. Happy with my peanut butter fudge, I've been working out other flavours. I've done a layered recipe and I'm currently trying to work out a maple fudge recipe.

For now I bring you chocolate fudge. I have two slightly different recipes, both equally enjoyable. The first (with dark chocolate) is dense and heavy, and dryer than the other recipe. When I eat it all I can think is "this would go really well with a glass of milk."

Many of the ingredients as well as the process parallels my peanut butter fudge recipe.

Dense, rich, dark chocolate fudge

Serving Size: 1 piece, makes ~24 pieces
Nutritional Information (with dark chocolate): 37 cals, 1g of carbs and 1g of fiber (<1g net carbs), 3g of protein, 1g of fat
(without dark chocolate): 32 cals, 1g of carbs, 1g of fat, 3g of protein

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: ~10-15 minutes
Cooling Time: 1-2 hours

Your Ingredients:

With Dark Chocolate

• 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
• 3 oz of light cream cheese, softened
• 1 oz of dark chocolate (I used Lindt Ecuador, 75%)*
• 1 scoop (1/3 cup, or 35g) of chocolate whey protein powder
• 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• choice sweetener (I used 1/2 cup of Splenda)
• cinnamon (optional)

* Chocolate varies a lot. I only use Lindt because it's easy to find and reliable. There is a 65% and 70% bar (Lindt Madagascar) with comparable carbs etc to the Ecuador one. So if you're using Lindt, I'd say anything above 60% would be good.

Without Dark Chocolate

• 1/2 stick of unsalted butter 
• 4 oz of light cream cheese, softened
• 1 scoop (1/3 cup, or 35g) of chocolate whey protein powder
• 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• choice sweetener (I used 1/2 cup of Splenda)
• cinnamon (optional)

Your Tools:

• A 1 quart saucepan
• A wooden or silicone spoon or spatula, or whisk
• A ~9x5 glass casserole dish or 8.5x4.5x2.5 metal loaf pan

The Directions:

The directions are going to be pretty much the same as for the peanut butter fudge. So I'm going to copy and paste a lot.


Step 1 -

Lightly grease whatever small baking dish you picked out. Or line it with parchment paper. Or both. I am going to go ahead and recommend that you use parchment paper. That way, the slab can be easily lifted from the dish.

Step 2 -

Cut your 1/2 stick of butter into smaller chunks or slices for easy melting.  Put your saucepan on low-medium heat and begin melting the butter. While the butter is melting chop or break the dark chocolate (if you're using it). Add the pieces whenever. 

Note: less heat is better. If you cook the fudge for too long, or on too high of a heat, the butter eventually cooks out of whatever you are trying to mix it with. You'll know this is happening when the chocolate pools in the middle of the pan, surrounded by a ring of butter. Make sure to stir often.

Step 3 -

Add the softened cream cheese to the chocolate and butter mixture, stirring until all the cheese is melted. Once that is blended, add your sweetener and stir (again, I used 1/2 cup of Splenda). Next, add the protein powder and cocoa powder gradually as you stir. 

Step 4 -

Finally, once all ingredients have blended together, pour the 'batter' into your prepared dish. Let it cool for a few hours, then slice and enjoy.

Finished Product




xo,
Jennifer