Chocolate Fudge with Roasted Nuts and Raisins

This is another Canary Catering favourite, which we serve with coffee – it is widely appreciated and we always have lots of pleas for the recipe.

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  Makes 60 squares

Ingredients
14 oz (400 g) dark chocolate (70-75% cocoa solids), chopped quite finely
3 oz (75 g) mixed nuts, such as hazelnuts and almonds
3 oz (75 g) raisins
1½ oz (40 g) unsalted butter
3½ fl oz (100 ml) liquid glucose
12 fl oz (340 ml) whipping cream
9 oz (250 g) golden caster sugar
For the top:
4 oz (110 g) good-quality milk chocolate
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4, 350°F (180°C).

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Equipment
You will also need a small baking tray; a wide, heavy-based saucepan with a capacity of 6 pints (3.5 litres); a sugar thermometer; and a baking tin, 6 x 10 inches (15 x 25.5 cm), lined with baking parchment.

Method

Begin by roasting the nuts. Spread them out on the small baking tray and roast them for 8 minutes, using a timer so you don't forget about them. Then remove them from the oven to a chopping board, let them cool a bit and chop them roughly. Now place them, along with the dark chocolate, raisins and butter in a large heatproof bowl.
Next, measure out the glucose. (A hot spoon will be useful here – just dip it in boiled water for a few seconds, then wipe it dry.) Place the glucose, cream and sugar in the saucepan over a high heat. (It does need to be a large, wide pan as the mixture will come to a really fast, rolling boil.) Stir everything together until it gets really hot, and then stop stirring because the mixture does tend to catch on the bottom of the pan and you'll stir scorched bits into the fudge.
What you need to do now is insert the sugar thermometer (protecting your hands with thick oven gloves and being really careful not to splash yourself). When the temperature of the mixture reaches 225°F (110°C) – after about 5 minutes – the mixture will look like dark condensed milk. Now remove it from the heat and pour it over the nuts, dark chocolate, raisins and butter, and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture is well blended, smooth and glossy. (Don't be tempted to add the chocolate and other ingredients to the hot pan – they will simply burn.) Now all you do is pour the whole lot into the lined tin. Then soak the saucepan in hot water immediately.
When the fudge is absolutely cold, cover it with more clingfilm and chill it in the fridge for at least 6 hours or, preferably, overnight.
The next day, melt the milk chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Then turn the fudge out on to a chopping board, discarding the baking parchment, and use a palette knife to spread the melted chocolate over the top. Use a serrated palette knife or a fork to make a ridged pattern across the topping and allow it to set before cutting the fudge into 1 inch (2.5 cm) cubes.
_This recipe is taken from The Delia Collection: Chocolate._

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