Chocolate orange fudge with pistachios

Ingredients

• 200g condensed milk
• 170g dark chocolate
• zest of 1 orange
• 50g unsalted pistachios, shelled

Method

1. Line a baking pan with parchment paper (I used 20cm round cake pan), make sure to cover the sides.
2. Put condensed milk and chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place it over a water bath.
3. Cook it, stirring continuously, until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is silky smooth.
4. Add orange zest and pistachios and mix until incorporated.
5. Quickly pour the fudge into prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle some chopped pistachios on top.
6. Let the fudge set at room temperature and then put it in a fridge for 1-2 hours before cutting into squares.

I never liked fudge. A sugary substance with a weird consistency, similar to caramel, but not really. Definitely not my thing. Was. Until I made this chocolate fudge with orange and pistachios!

I participated in a food photography challenge, and one of the tasks was to photograph chocolate fudge. I almost skipped this theme, because I really didn’t want to waste products on something I would never eat. But then, after discovering that I only need two ingredients for that, condensed milk and dark chocolate, I decided to give it a go. In the process, I had an idea on how to save the fudge from being thrown away right after a photo shoot. I added some orange zest and shelled unsalted pistachios into the mixture. Orange zest made it taste just like my favourite chocolate – Terry’s Chocolate Orange! And pistachios… well, pistachios are always a good idea! 🙂

This is a soft fudge. If you prefer it to be more set, try to add more chocolate. Next time I’ll try this recipe with equal proportions of chocolate and condensed milk (1:1).