Easy 3 layer chocolate fudge for Valentine's Day

If you are regular reader here, you probably might know I share only DIY projects and crafts. But I am slowly trying to develop my interest in baking/cooking too.If you wanna know ,what kind of baker I am, you can read my first cake baking experience almost a year ago ,here. So if you are asking "Why Sahana's recipes?" when there are many recipes out there. Well, I share my flops, what not to do along with the process of making the recipes so you can learn something extra rather than just a recipe and also have some fun giggling time. My recipes are best for beginners like me and more of reference guide for others who would like to know "How did the making go?", "Compatibility of ingredients" ,etc etc. So, shall we start baking ?

Before the ingredients , let me tell you the contents and design of the fudge. I decided to try the fudge with graham cracker crust as base ,a semi-sweet chocolate(His favorite) fudge as next layer and white chocolate(My favorite) fudge as top layer . I did not bake the crust as I did not have parchment paper in hand and also I did not want to spoil my baking tray by trying it directly without paper lining in my first trial. But I will discuss the options if you want to try baking the crust.Now to the list of ingredients.

Ingredients:

For Crust :
9 Graham Crackers (full)
5 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
A  pinch of Cinnamon (optional)

For Fudge :
1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
1 1/2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups of  White chocolate chips or Red Candy melts
1 tsp vanilla extract
Red food coloring (optional)
Two pinch of salt

Baking supplies:
Baking tray
Parchment paper (if you are baking) or wax paper
Food processor or blender or mixer
Microwave
Microwave safe bowl
Spatula
Measuring cups


Step 1: Break the graham crackers a little bit and put it in the food processor.Along with the butter (room temperature) ,sugar,salt and cinnamon. Blend it until all the crackers break and combine well with the other ingredients.The texture should be as shown below.

Step 2: Line the baking pan with parchment paper(Or wax paper) and put the mixture in the pan and smooth it with hands. Allow it to rest for 2 hours. If you want to bake, Bake at 350F preheated oven for 10 minutes and then chill the crust before the next step.(I have not tried this , as I had wax paper only).

Step 3: Take semi sweet chocolate chips  and 1/2 can of condensed milk and microwave it for 2 to 2.30 minutes until all the chocolate melts.(This timing differs from microwave to microwave)So I would recommend doing it in  30 seconds intervals.It should not take more than 2.30 minutes.If you do it , for long time then it will become oily. So, be careful to not do it too much.Add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and a pinch of salt and mix it well.The consistency will be like , chocolate will leave the bowl smoothly when you whirl around with the spatula and will not be sticky. (shown below)

Step 4: Pour it above the crust and smooth it with spatula.Allow it to cool in fridge for 30 minutes before you pour the next layer.

Step 5: Take the white chocolate chips and condensed milk in a bowl and microwave as mentioned in step 3. When I did this, I did not get the right consistency as I got for semi sweet chocolate chips. The mixture was more in a liquid state even after microwaving it for 2.30 minutes and all the chocolate has melted.I thought this was due to addition of more condensed milk than the previous step.(Measuring the condensed milk equally is quite a difficult task,isn't it? ;)).To the surprise , I did not have extra white chocolate to add but I had some red candy melts .So I added 10 to 15 candy melts while it was still hot and then mixed it to get the right consistency.The sticky mixture now turned to non-sticky.(Yay!!) Then I added a drop of food coloring for more red richness and then a pinch of salt with 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.

Step 6: Pour the mixture above the previous layer and smooth it with spatula. Allow it to chill for 3 to 4 hours. Then slowly take the fudge from the pan by holding the paper and cut them into pieces. Voila !! Your fudge is now ready to enjoy !! I made 1.5 inches square pieces.I got around 28 pieces and many small irregular pieces around the corners. I used 9" X 13" pan for this.

I should say that Crackers crust did hold well for the center pieces but not for the corners.This was because I did not bake the crust but as far as the taste I liked it a lot, my friends liked it a lot and so I hope you also will like it. As the crust was crumbly , while eating we had it crust side up.Is that really matters?? Lol. But I should say it,right. :) You can also try this recipe without the crust, but if you would like to experiment go ahead.But try baking the crust to avoid the crumbly texture.Other than that I am sure you will enjoy trying this recipe and make a sweet treat for your valentine.

Let me know in the comments below.What do you think about this recipe ?Have you ever tried a recipe adding your own ingredients and additional steps or you are a just " follow what Google says" person?