This is the 4th year now that I’ve made fudge at Christmas. It started when I was still at uni, when about 15 of us got together for a big Christmas meal. Most of us lived on the same street, so we divided the cooking duties between our 3 kitchens, and then carried the food (and extra tables and chairs) down the road to the biggest house. My housemate and I made chocolate fudge, wrapped it up into little parcels, and we used them as place settings for the meal.

Since then Christmas hasn’t felt like Christmas until I’ve made fudge. This year I’ve ended up making more than usual –  the initial 2 batches I made for gifts, and a third for the people I work with (they all went absolutely crazy for the surplus bits I took them from the original batches). I stuck to a basic vanilla fudge recipe this year, and from there made Rum & Raisin, and Cranberry & Walnut.