I follow loads of blogs using Google Reader and Flipboard, and the other day a particular blog post from the excellent Domestic Sluttery caught my attention. This one. I had to try it at the earliest opportunity – which was a couple of days later when Sainsburys delivered my groceries including a tin of condensed milk!

No Cook Fudge

Ingredients

• 40g butter
• 2 table spoons of condensed milk
• 2 table spoons of maple syrup
• Half a teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 250g icing sugar

Method

• Beat the butter, condensed milk, maple syrup and vanilla extract all together until smooth. This takes a little while but is easier if you make sure the butter starts at room temperature.
• Sift in the icing sugar bit by bit and beat it in. You may need to mix the last of it in by hand to form a ball. I actually needed to add in a little extra icing sugar to get the ball consistency – I think my maple syrup was runnier than this recipe allows.
• Dust a clean surface with icing sugar and roll out the fudge to 1.5-2cm thick. Cut into squares and transfer to some baking paper on a tray.
• Leave to dry overnight.

This recipe was really simple to follow and with no cooking required it’s much easier to get right than traditional fudge. I know it’s probably not “proper” fudge but when we tried it we were really impressed with the flavour – the maple syrup is definitely the way to go. It’s really (really really) sweet and so you only need a little bit at a time, and I’m happy to say does remind me of traditional fudge rather than the mass produced hard stuff you get in boxes. If you have some condensed milk in your cupboard go make some of this now, it’s very lovely. Only down side… the 24 hour wait, but it’s well worth it!

But what was I to do with the nearly full tin of condensed milk I had left? I obviously couldn’t waste it. I know… coconut ice!

Coconut Ice

I’ve been meaning to make some coconut ice for a long time. It’s probably one of my favourite sweet treats – I am naturally drawn to it at fairgrounds and seaside resorts, and it brings back lovely childhood memories of country dancing in Helson for my school. Yes, country dancing, in sickening beautiful floral green and pink skirts, pink tshirts and green neckers. What do you mean you don’t believe me? This girl of no grace was a competition country dancer don’t you know! Ha!

Anyway, the coconut ice recipe I use is:

Ingredients

• 200g condensed milk
• 225g icing sugar
• 175g dessicated coconut
• A little food colouring, normally pink, I used green

Method

• Sieve the icing sugar into the condensed milk and mix.
• Add the coconut and mix, this will take some doing but make sure it’s mixed well.
• Split the mixture in half. Put one half in a lined tray and press firmly.
• Add the colouring to the other half and mix until blended, and then press that on top of the half already in the tray.
• Place on the side or in the fridge for a couple of hours to set.

Mmmmmmmmmmm looks and tastes really good and very simple. There is much less waiting time than with the fudge – I made them both on the same day and we were munching on the coconut ice before bed but had to wait a whole another day for the fudge to dry. You can actually keep this for three weeks or something like that, I’m pretty sure this batch won’t last that long!

So thanks Sara from Domestic Sluttery for the inspiration, the fudge was really good. And thanks to having nearly a whole tin of condensed milk left over to make the coconut ice. Both sweet treats are so simple to make, take no time at all (apart from the 24 hour wait to eat the fudge!) and would even make nice gifts.

What else can I do with condensed milk then? Peppermint creams? Any more suggestions?