Peanut Butter Fudge

[Patrick S]

I don't make fudge for myself, but a lot of people I know really love it and ask me to make it for them. I have found recipes for chocolate and vanilla fudge that I am happy with, but not one for peanut butter fudge. I have tried Gale Gand's, Emeril's, and Alton Brown's. They are all ok, but none yields a fudge as creamy as I'd like. Does anyone have a recipe that yields a very creamy-textured peanut butter fudge?

[devinf]

Here's a recipe I have used with success. Tasty stuff!

2 lb. sugar

4 oz. corn syrup

4 oz. milk

12 oz. cream

1 oz. butter

1/2 oz. vanilla extract

3 oz. peanut butter

Combine cream and milk, then take out 8 oz.

Combine sugar, corn syrup and 8 oz. cream/milk. Cook to 230F

Add the butter and slowly add rest of milk/cream. Cook to 236F

Pour onto marble and put peanut butter onto fudge, do not stir. let it cool to 120F

Mix the fudge and peanut butter (I "table" it) until it thickens, then pour into a frame or container before portioning.

[scott123]

Maybe I'm stating the obvious here, but are you using creamy peanut butter?

And not just 'creamy' labeled peanut butter either. A lot of nut butters are labeled creamy, but they're really not that smooth. Trader's Joes, for instance is pretty grainy, as are many of the brands you get at whole foods. Smuckers also falls into the not so creamy category. The only truly smooth peanut butters I've been able to find are the sweetened stuff like jif, skippy and peter pan.

[Patrick S]

Maybe I'm stating the obvious here, but are you using creamy peanut butter?

And not just 'creamy' labeled peanut butter either.  A lot of nut butters are labeled creamy, but they're really not that smooth. Trader's Joes, for instance is pretty grainy, as are many of the brands you get at whole foods.  Smuckers also falls into the not so creamy category.  The only truly smooth peanut butters I've been able to find are the sweetened stuff like jif, skippy and peter pan.

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I'm using Peter Pan, which is pretty creamy, but not as creamy as Jif. I happen to have a lot of it though.

devinf, thank you for the recipe, I will try it!

[Patrick S]

devinf, I tried your recipe tonight, and its easily the best one so far in terms of mouth-feel. Thanks! I did use more PB though, about 8ozs, as 3ozs seemed like a small amount. When the mixture reached 120F, I added the vanilla and stirred the PB into the mixture. It got firm really quickly and I had to press it into the pan.

[Patrick S]

For the record, here are the last three PB fudge recipes I tried. The bottom left is Emeril's recipe from the foodnetwork site. This is the most photogenic of the three, and cuts into nice pieces with sheer sides. The bottom right is Alton Brown's recipe. This one has one big advantage, and that is that you can literally make it in 5 minutes, using only a bowl, a spoon and a microwave. It is very crumbly as far as fudge goes, but the taste is actually pretty good. On top is devinf's recipe. Its not as photogenic, but it is exactly what I wanted in terms of texture. It has a good peanut butter taste, though maybe not as strong as as the other two. Thanks again, devin!

Next time I'll try a different peanut butter. I saw on Cooks Illustrated today that they had done a peanut butter taste test, and the Peter Pan I've been using placed near last in every test, while Skippy, Jif and Reese's placed highest. Peter Pan was 6th in the raw and sauce tests, and 7th in the cookie test. It was given a "not recommended." Reese's won the raw taste test, but was 7th in the sauce test and 6th in the cookie test. Skippy won the sauce and cooky tests, and was 3rd in the raw test. Jif came in second in the raw and sauce tests, and fourth in the cookie test. Skippy took the "highly recommended" prize.

[Wendy DeBord]

I agree, I think the brand of peanut butter will definately impact your item, your testing should get very interesting if you change out brands. I'm picky about peanut butters, when I taste test them there really isn't much grey area there for me. Unlike some ingredients. I do buy Jiffy for home use, I love it for peanut butter cookies and p & j's on ritz crackers. At work we have the worst non-name brand stuff (it rips the bread apart when you attempt to spread it).......you really can tell the difference not only in taste but the texture of my pb cookies....their dryer.

[Nick Soapdish]

kraft makes an "extra creamy" version of their peanut butter. I use it at work to make peanut butter mousse and it works beautifully

ns