Honey-Walnut Fudge (AKA “Beige”)

Ingredients:

Butter for greasing pans

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup cream or half and half

1/3 cup milk

2 Tablespoons honey

2 Tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon orange or tangerine zest

½ cup walnuts, lightly toasted

Directions: Line an 8 x 8 cake pan with foil, going up and over the sides to form ‘handles’ for removing the fudge. Generously butter the foil and the inside of a large saucepan. Place the saucepan on the stove and add in the sugars, cream, milk and honey. Heat over medium high heat, stirring constantly until boiling. Clip a candy thermometer to the side and reduce heat to medium low. Cook until the candy reaches  236 degrees F, stirring often. Remove the pan from heat. Add in the butter, vanilla and orange zest—DO NOT STIR. Cool until thermometer registers 110 degrees F. Beat candy with a wooden spoon until thick then add in walnuts. Continue beating until candy is very thick and loses some of its gloss. Turn into prepared pan and score into squares while still warm. Let cool until firm, then remove from pan using foil ‘handles’, cut into your scored squares and store in a tightly sealed container.

Note: I’ve always beaten this by hand, which gets very tiring. This year I decided to use my handy and sturdy stand mixer. I let the candy cool to 110, then poured it into the mixing bowl and beat with the whisk attachment for about 6 minutes until the candy lost its gloss. I then add the walnuts, stirred them in and poured into the pan. Worked like a charm and I can still feel my hand!