Easy Chocolate Walnut Fudge

 

Chocolate walnut fudge is a buttery, smooth and fudgy chocolate candy with bits of heart-healthy walnuts throughout. This melt-in-your mouth chocolate delight makes for a great edible gift; but for a chocoholic like me, it is a divine treat to satisfy my chocolate craving whenever it hits me!

With Valentine’s Day coming up, our gourmet facebook group – Healthy Wellthy Cuisines which makes theme based gourmet creations twice a month, chose an appropriate Valentine theme: #PyarKaTyohar (in Hindi) or as translated in English; “Festival of Love”!

To celebrate this day of love (be it for your spouse, boyfriend, siblings, parents or any of your near and dear ones!); most people either make heart-shaped gourmet creations or gift each other something made of chocolate. Nothing spells more love than a boxful of chocolates!

Nowadays, I am on a fridge clean-up mode and most of the times, I tend to make recipes with ingredients already in my fridge or pantry. This time, rummaging through my kitchen, I found a small can of condensed milk and I still had some chocolate chips that I had brought from abroad which I needed to finish ASAP (as soon as possible)!

I have been meaning to make chocolate fudge for a long time and now was as good a time as any. With the last bit of walnuts at the bottom of a package of California walnuts, adding this to the fudge seemed perfect to give it a wonderful texture and flavor!  And for the Valentine look of pink color, I decided to sprinkle some colored sugar sprinkles.

All you need is 5 ingredients and just 10 minutes to prepare this easy-to-make fudge!  No thermometer needed, no beating, no baking and with a little guidance, even your kids can make this decadent chocolate treat.

Just melt the chocolate with condensed milk and add some butter for richness and gloss. Stir in vanilla essence or extract for additional flavor (totally optional) and for a wonderful texture in the fudge, mix in nuts of your choice. I have used walnuts and to enhance the flavor I have toasted it a bit in a saucepan.

That is it! Just spread it in a parchment paper lined pan (this step is a must or you will have all your fudge stuck to the pan!) and allow to set completely; I found setting it in a freezer worked better. Cut into desired shapes and share these fudgy, decadent, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate bites with your Valentine!

Why should you make this? Well, it is:

• Dense
• Rich
• Fudgy
• Chocolaty
• Melt-in-your-mouth
• Divine
• Scrumptious
• Easy to make
• No baking
• No thermometer needed
• Takes just 10 minutes to make

Happy cooking and Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Check out these other chocolate delights for a more fun Valentine's Day:

Easy Chocolate Bark

Nutella Filled Chocolates

Double Chocolate Brownie Bars

 

Now, let us get on to this amazing fudge recipe, shall we?

Step-by-step method to make Easy Chocolate Walnut Fudge:

Prepare an 8x4 inch loaf pan by lining with parchment paper. Keep aside.

Chop the walnuts into small coarse pieces (not too fine) and roast on a pan on medium low heat for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly; do not let it burn. Remove and let cool.

Place the chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate) and condensed milk in large mixing glass or steel bowl and place this on a pan of simmering water. Make sure the boiling water does not touch the bottom of the bowl and no steam enters the bowl (this may make the chocolate to seize or harden). This is called a double boiler method.

You can use a microwave too to melt the chocolate but you have to be careful not to overheat and burn the chocolate; so do it only in bursts of 15 seconds.

Stir the mixture until the chocolate starts to melt and once almost melted, add the butter and vanilla; give it a good whisk.

Remove from heat and mix well with a spatula to form a smooth, glossy and satiny mixture.

Stir in the chopped and roasted walnut pieces.

Pour this chocolate mixture into the prepared pan and level with a rubber spatula or offset spatula.

Tap the pan on the counter to remove any air bubbles that may have been trapped and sprinkle the colored sugar sprinkles over the chocolate walnut fudge. This topping is totally optional and customizable!

Refrigerate or freeze until completely set and then cut into desired shaped pieces. 

Store leftovers in the freezer in an airtight container with parchment paper in between the layers of chocolate fudge; no need to thaw the fudge; it can be eaten straight away.

Enjoy!!!  Happy Valentine's Day to all my Family and Friends!!

 

This easy, fun, no-bake, fudgy, chocolaty and decadent Chocolate Walnut Fudge is my contribution to celebrate Valentine's Day or "Pyar Ka Tyohar" in our Facebook group "Healthy Wellthy Cuisines".

Please do check out the other scrumptious Valentine's treats shared by my friends and have a super-duper Valentine's celebration with your loved ones: Sasmita's Eggless Rose Thumbprint Cookies, Soma's Skillet Brownie, Shibani's Eggless Strawberry Mousse,  Sucheta's Eggless Custard Pie Pudding, Lathiya's Gulab Jamun Cupcakes, Rosy's Nutty Cupcakes, and Shalu's Persian Love Cake.