ANOTHER NEW GADGET.

Today the postman arrived bright and early with my new gadget. A Sugar thermometer that I bought from Amazon.

A bought it with the intention of making some homemade Vanilla Fudge.

I had a recipe that's been recommended by a fellow foodie off the BBC Food Messageboard and it's by a lady known as Miss Agedashi and here it is:-

Vanilla Fudge –Miss Agedashi.

1lb/450g granulated sugar
4oz/125g butter
1/2 pint of milk/condensed milk (I used 1/8 pint condensed and made it up to 1/2 pint with milk - if you're using less than 1/4 pint condensed, add more sugar at your discretion to make up the sugar content)
seeds from half a vanilla pod

Butter a tin about 6 x 8in/15 x 20cm and line it with baking parchment. Put all the ingredients together in a pan, and stir over a low heat until the sugar and butter have dissolved.

Bring to quite a fast boil, and continue cooking until it reaches 116C on a sugar thermometer. If no sugar thermometer, boil for about 20 minutes STIRRING CONSTANTLY, until the colour changes from a creamy colour to a light brown (squirrel?!). Take care not to burn, it's easily done.

When it reaches the correct temperature/colour/soft ball stage, remove from the heat and leave to cool for a couple of minutes. Then start stirring vigorously for about five minutes, or until the gloss is going, it's getting thick and going flaky around the sides of the bowl. The longer you beat the cooling fudge the grainier/harder the texture will be.

Pour quickly into the lined tin and leave to set. As it cools, cut into squares with a sharp knife.

My only regrets are that I should've used a bigger saucepan to allow me to stir it easier and next time I'll wait til it's cooled completely before cutiing it up as it stuck to the knife while it was still warm.

You live and learn.