An Inspired Cook

If you’ve ever received a few bricks of Christmas Coal, you might wonder if you are on the nice or naughty list. I guarantee you will feel like you’re on the nice list once you’ve tasted this delicious fudge. It’s so decadent and creamy with sprinkles of black sanding sugar on top. A couple years ago we received some bricks of black coal as a gift and I was quite impressed. I wanted to recreate it at home and found a great recipe from Savory Experiments that was exactly what I was looking for. You might think this is a dark chocolate fudge, but in fact it’s made with white chocolate and colored with a black food gel. It’s so easy to make and will delight anyone who enjoys the humor in this edible coal.

You’ll need white chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, unsalted butter, sea salt, vanilla and some gel black food coloring. Sprinkle some black sanding sugar on top to give it some sparkles.

Heat a heavy bottomed sauce pan over low heat. Heat the sweetened condensed milk, butter, salt and vanilla extract. Stir the pot as the butter melts.

Add the white chocolate chips and continue stirring until all the contents are well combined and become smooth and creamy.

Stir continuously, approximately 5 – 7 minutes, but resist the urge to turn up the heat. It’s a slow process but turning up the heat might scald and ruin the whole batch of fudge.

Finally, after all that stirring, it’s finally smooth and creamy.

Add the black food gel and stir the pot until you get the color you are looking for.

This actually looked like a dark purple and it took some more gel to get that darker coal look.

Line a 9 x 9 inch square baking dish with parchment paper. Pour the mixture into the parchment lined dish and spread evenly over top. Sprinkle with the black sanding sugar. Allow to cool completely, then cover with some plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.

Once chilled, cut into squares. A little bit goes a long way and we actually cut each square into 3 pieces. It will last in the refrigerator for at least a couple of weeks. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season!

Christmas Coal Fudge, adapted from Savory Experiments

3 cups White Chocolate Chips
14 ounce can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 teaspoons Vanilla
Black Gel Food Coloring, start with 2 teaspoons and if needed add 1 teaspoon at a time to get the desired color
Black Sanding Sugar, for sprinkling over top

Line an 8 X 8 square baking dish with parchment paper.

Heat a heavy bottomed sauce pan over low heat. Heat the sweetened condensed milk, butter, salt and vanilla extract. Stir the pot as the butter melts. Add the white chocolate chips and stir continuously for approximately 5 – 7 minutes. Continue stirring over low heat until all the contents are well combined and become smooth and creamy. It will come along in time but if heated too quickly it could scald and ruin the entire batch of fudge.

Remove from heat and add the black food gel. Once you’ve stirred in the black food gel, you may find you need to add more to get that black coal color. Once you have the desired color, pour into the parchment lined baking dish and spread evenly. Sprinkle with black sanding sugar.

Allow to cool completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

Lift the parchment out of the pan and cut into small squares.