Recipe | Easy peanut butter and caramel fudge

A quick recipe for peanut butter and caramel fudge. Easy to make and incredibly moreish.

This recipe is from a recent edition of The Times Magazine. It’s been a while since I made fudge and had peanut butter to use up from another bake, so decided to give it a go.

If you love peanut butter, this is an easy recipe for a sweet treat which stores well, making it straightforward to share and/or space out the calories!

Ingredients (makes 20 to 48 pieces depending on how small you cut the fudge slab)

150 g/ 5 oz unsalted butter
80 ml single cream
370 g/ 13 oz smooth peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract/essence
400 g/ 14 oz icing sugar
100 g/ 3.5 oz caramel
50 g / 2 oz dark chocolate

Method

Line a tin with baking paper. The original recipe calls for a 20-cm square tin (8 inches) but you could get away with a slightly bigger or smaller tin if you’re happy to have thinner or thicker fudge pieces.

Sieve the icing sugar into a large bowl. Put to one side.

Slice the butter into small pieces and put them in a saucepan with the cream, peanut butter and vanilla. Cook over a medium heat, stirring until all the butter has melted, the mixture is smooth and just starting to bubble. That should take about 3 minutes.

Pour the peanut butter mixture into the icing sugar and stir together slowly until well combined. Add the caramel and fold in gently.

Spoon the peanut butter fudge mixture into your prepared tin and spread out to form an even layer. I found the easiest way to get a smooth top was to use the back of a dessertspoon to pat down the mixture. Don’t drag the spoon or it leaves the surface rough.

Put the peanut butter fudge in the fridge to chill for 1-2 hours or until firm.

Pull on the greaseproof paper to remove the slab of fudge from the tin. Melt the dark chocolate (either in the microwave or in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water) and drizzle over the top of the fudge.

Slice your peanut butter and caramel fudge into as many pieces as you like.

Store your fudge on layers of baking paper in an airtight container. It should keep for 1-2 weeks out of the fridge and up to 3 weeks in the fridge. You can also freeze it, although this may change its texture slightly.