Mad Scientist in the Kitchen - Sugar-Free Fudge, 1st Try

[figmo]

The mission: Create a sugar-free fudge that doesn't contain nut butters or cream cheese. Ideally, create a sugar-free fudge that tastes and has the mouth-feel of The Real Thing_TM.

I've been reading sugar-free and regular fudge recipes on the Internet for the last week. Regular fudge usually uses sugar or corn syrup as its thickening agent. Too many sugar-free recipes stick in cream cheese or peanut butter, both of which IMHO do weird things to the flavor. I don't want sour fudge, and I don't want chocolate-peanut fudge.

The recipe needs the following:

• Some kind of chocolate, whether it be cocoa powder, semi-sweet (sugar free) chocolate, or unsweetened chocolate.


• Some kind of thickening agent. Since I'm rejecting cream cheese and peanut butter, the obvious ones left are gelatin and corn starch - or some combination thereof. I did find a sugar-free marshmallow creme recipe that uses egg whites as its thickener, and I plan to try making it and using it in a future batch (Mom's recipe calls for marshmallow creme), but not this time.


• Some kind of sweetener. Most recipes seem to use liquid sweetener, while some use Splenda or occasionally some sugar alcohol such as Xylitol.


• Some kind of dairy component to give it a "creamy" flavor. Some recipes use evaporated or sweetened condensed milk. Obviously the latter is not a viable option. Some of the recipes also use butter. I was surprised to not see cream in any of the recipes I looked at.


• Some kind of fat for mouth feel. Sometimes the recipe uses solid chocolate as the "fat." I am not trying to make a low fat diet (it's a nice idea, but it's not The Goal here), so I'd rather err on the side of fattiness.

For batch one, I used:

• 2 oz (by weight) of unsweetened chocolate ("Oban chocolate liquor wafers")
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 24 packets of Splenda
• 2 c nonfat milk (it's what I had on hand!)
• 4 T unflavored gelatin (4 packets)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

"Bloom" the gelatin in 1 cup of the milk in a microwave-safe cup for around 10 minutes.

While the gelatin is blooming, line a pan with cooking parchment (I was looking for an 8x8 pan but had to settle for a 9x7 one, but it was okay). Do allow excess parchment to hang outside the pan; you'll be using it later to help remove the fudge.

Next, combine the rest of the ingredients, except for the vanilla extract, in a pot over medium heat, continuously stirring and beating with a whisk to avoid having lumps form. If the stuff starts thickening too fast, take it off the heat, but do keep the whisk moving.

Mix the bloomed gelatin and milk mixture with a (different) wire whisk to break up any potential lumps, then microwave for 3 minutes, stopping to stir the mixture every 40-50 seconds to avoid having clumps form (take the other pan off the heat when you do this).

Once the gelatin is dissolved in the heated milk, slowly incorporate the milk and gelatine mixture into the chocolate, whisking till smooth before each amount (I did it in six parts). When everything is incorporated, add the vanilla extract.

Pour the fudge mixture into the parchment-lined pan. Cover the top with a piece of wax paper or parchment to prevent any kind of skin from forming.

Refrigerate (you can speed this up by using the freezer) until solid. When firm, remove the top piece of paper, and pull on the excess parchment on the sides to remove, using the excess paper sides as "handles." Lay the parchment paper flat, then use a pizza cutter to slice the fudge into bite-sized pieces.

---

The end result had a decent flavor profile but was a little "off" texture-wise. Warren tried it and (accurately) remarked, "it's a little Jell-o-ey." It kind of looks like fudge, kind of tastes like it (oddly enough, I think it needs more salt!), but the mouth feel wasn't quite right. I am guessing I need more fat in it -- way more fat -- and perhaps might have a better result if I made it with standard (4% fat) milk (which I don't normally keep on hand), cream (which I also don't normally keep on hand), or regular (not skim) condensed milk. I also wonder how using a sugar alcohol, such as erythritol (which I do have) might have made a difference.

Any other suggestions are welcome.

Comments

[howeird]

Hmmm. I am trying to think of a sugar-free filler, and maybe high-gluten flour would do the trick. I'd avoid gelatin for the Jello-like texture you mentioned. For me part of the texture of fudge is the graininess provided by sugar, so something similar in the sugar substitute seems like an answer. Stevia, maybe? And yes, salt is also good for taste and maybe texture, too, though probably not much in the small amount you would be using.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

Unrefined stevia has a texture closer to ground sassafras and tastes nasty (IMHO).

Re: the salt, I think you're dead-on with that one. I used salted butter, but I think it needed a pinch or two more.

[r-wolfcastle.livejournal.com]

1) Use bulk Splenda, not the stuff in the packets. There are [at least] 3 types of Splenda -- the super-concentrated stuff that comes in packets, the bulk Splenda for baking, and a mix of sugar and Splenda that is also for baking. Obviously you don't want the latter, either, because you don't want the sugar. Smart & Final usually has bulk Splenda, it comes in a resealable bag. You substitute it for sugar 1-for-1.

2) Cream cheese? Peanut butter? What kind of alien (or Yankee) cookbooks do you read? Cornstarch is also icky. What's wrong with plain old all-purpose flour? Or at the least mostly flour with a bit of arrowroot powder (say, a tablespoon or so) added in.

3) I don't know how stringent you want to be about the sugar-free part. If you can bend slightly, then using a mix of unsweetened, bittersweet, and semisweet chocolates will yield a much better product. This recipe will give you the general idea. For the record, the brownies this produces are just a little too light and "cakey" for me; if I made it again I'd cut the flour in half and add a tablespoon or so of arrowroot to make up for it (see above).

4) Use a truly excellent vanilla extract. It will improve the end product far more than you might think. The Madagascar Bourbon stuff is the best I've ever found, although the Tahitian is no slouch. Most upscale groceries (even Lunardi's and Cosentino's) have the Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract. Then, whatever the recipe calls for, double or triple it. And this is coming from someone who doesn't really like vanilla shakes or pudding.

5) Use very fresh free-range eggs. Ideally they will have a yolk that is almost more orange than yellow, and if you break open an egg and cup the yolk in your hand it will have high physical integrity and stand up like a little dome. Pastry chefs pay top dollar for eggs like that, because they know what wonders they can work in baked goods.

That's all that comes to mind immediately. The bulk Splenda will solve most of your texture problems, and the use of flour as the primary thickener instead of cornstarch will also help. Good luck!

[figmo.livejournal.com]

1) Use bulk Splenda, not the stuff in the packets. There are [at least] 3 types of Splenda -- the super-concentrated stuff that comes in packets, the bulk Splenda for baking, and a mix of sugar and Splenda that is also for baking. Obviously you don't want the latter, either, because you don't want the sugar. Smart & Final usually has bulk Splenda, it comes in a resealable bag. You substitute it for sugar 1-for-1.

I have bulk Splenda. I buy it in quantity at Costco. The filler in the bulk Splenda doesn't thicken, so I figured I'd save it for when it is markedly easier to use the bulk stuff than the packet stuff, such as when I want a dry ingredient that disperses like sugar.

2) Cream cheese? Peanut butter? What kind of alien (or Yankee) cookbooks do you read? Cornstarch is also icky. What's wrong with plain old all-purpose flour? Or at the least mostly flour with a bit of arrowroot powder (say, a tablespoon or so) added in.

Most of the recipes for sugar-free fudge I came across on the net contained one or the other. There's one folks seem to rave about that calls for "one square of unsweetened chocolate," but nowhere is the size of the "square" defined in any of the printings of this recipe I've read.

As for thickeners, I don't know the details, but arrowroot supposedly doesn't work well with dairy products. I hadn't thought to use flour, but I guess it's a possibility.

3) I don't know how stringent you want to be about the sugar-free part. If you can bend slightly, then using a mix of unsweetened, bittersweet, and semisweet chocolates will yield a much better product. This recipe will give you the general idea. For the record, the brownies this produces are just a little too light and "cakey" for me; if I made it again I'd cut the flour in half and add a tablespoon or so of arrowroot to make up for it (see above).

I used dark sugar-free chocolate in test batch #2 (I'll post about it shortly). The sugar-free is a necessity, as I'm a brittle hypoglycemic.

4) Use a truly excellent vanilla extract. It will improve the end product far more than you might think. The Madagascar Bourbon stuff is the best I've ever found, although the Tahitian is no slouch. Most upscale groceries (even Lunardi's and Cosentino's) have the Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract. Then, whatever the recipe calls for, double or triple it. And this is coming from someone who doesn't really like vanilla shakes or pudding.

I use a high-quality extra-strong vanilla extract I got in Mexico (I think the stuff is double-strength even though it isn't documented as such). The stuff does not contain coumarin (the infamous rat poison that shows up in cheap Mexican "vainilla"), and I paid big $$ for it, relatively speaking.

5) Use very fresh free-range eggs. Ideally they will have a yolk that is almost more orange than yellow, and if you break open an egg and cup the yolk in your hand it will have high physical integrity and stand up like a little dome. Pastry chefs pay top dollar for eggs like that, because they know what wonders they can work in baked goods.

I hadn't thought to try using eggs in the fudge recipe. They never showed up in the fudge recipes I was looking at.