This three ingredient date fudge has become a family favourite recipe in our house. It’s healthy, easy to make, and really hits the spot for even the biggest chocolate craving!
I’ve been making this three ingredient date fudge for a couple of years now and I recently went to look up a recipe for it online to see how others were making it and couldn’t find anything even similar to what I was looking for. I decided there was definitely a need out there that had to be filled. 🙂 This is my version of a fudge recipe from our favourite little vegan restaurant here in town that closed down a few months ago. Their fudge recipe was probably just a little more fine-tuned than mine because they went through so many batches of it, but I’ve been working on mine for quite awhile too so I think I’ve gotten it pretty darn close. 🙂
You will be so shocked at how good this simple, healthy fudge really is. Our kids like it even better than real fudge and I think I might have to agree.
Ingredients and Supplies for the Three Ingredient Date Fudge
Other optional add-ins include a dash of maple syrup if your dates are a little less sweet than you’d like them, a dash of vanilla (just because that never hurts), or a sprinkling of sea salt for the top if you’re trying to be fancy.
You’ll want to start out by soaking your dates in hot water for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. I just use the water from my insta hot tap on my water dispenser. If your dates are a little on the drier side, you probably want to soak them for closer to an hour.
Next, you’ll combine all of your ingredients in your food processor and pulse them until everything is smooth and well-combined. Make sure you taste the fudge and make any adjustments necessary if you need it a little sweeter.
Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and use one spatula to remove the fudge from the food processor and the second to drop it into the loaf pan. Using both spatulas will just make it a whole lot easier because the fudge will be pretty sticky at this point.
Smooth it out and chill it in the fridge for about an hour, or overnight, then slice it up into little squares!
Pro fudge tip: Keep your fudge in the freezer in the summer! The squares of fudge will taste just like little mini fudge-sicles. 🙂
Here’s the full printable recipe:
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Three Ingredient Date Fudge
Prep Time
45mins
This three ingredient date fudge has become a family favourite recipe in our house. It's healthy, easy to make, and really hits the spot for even the biggest chocolate craving!
Course:Dessert
Cuisine:vegan
Keyword:Three Ingredient Date Fudge
Ingredients
1cupdates
1/2cupmelted coconut oil
1/3cupcocoa powder
drizzlemaple syrup(optional)
splashvanilla(optional)
Instructions
Soak the dates in hot water for 30 minutes to an hour to soften them.
Drain the water off of the dates, then combine the dates, coconut oil, and cocoa powder in the bowl of a food processor.
Process for 1-2 minutes until everything is very smooth and well combined. Taste the fudge and make any adjustments as needed.
Transfer the fudge to a parchment-lined loaf pan using two spatulas. Use one spatula to remove the fudge from the food processor, then use the second spatula to remove the fudge from the first and drop it onto the parchment paper.
Smooth the fudge out and chill it for about an hour, then remove from the pan slice into little squares. This recipe should make about 20 1" squares.
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.
This easy peasy fudge only has three ingredients. "You don't have to cook any sugar, and you only need a mixer," Dubois says. "We have eight ounces of cream cheese, eight ounces of powdered sugar and eight ounces of melted chocolate. And that's it!"
To avoid this issue, swirl the pan instead of stirring it with a spoon. You can use a wet pastry brush to wipe down any sugar that sticks to the sides of the pot.
The main reason is that your Fudge has not reached the optimum temperature. If your mixture only reaches 110 or 112 degrees Celsius it will always be soft. That's why we recommend investing in a sugar thermometer. Another reason your Fudge is not setting is that the ratio of liquid to sugar is too high.
Evaporated milk doesn't have sugar added. The sweetened condended milk is needed as no extra sugar is added to the fudge. If evaporated milk were used then the fudge would not be sweet enough and also would still be too soft unless the fudge is frozen.
Another key part of a successful fudge texture is when you stir the mixture. Stirring the sugar and milk during the initial stages of cooking allows the sugar to dissolve. However, once the mixture comes to a boil, it's time to put the spoon down.
Cream of tartar is used in caramel sauces and fudge to help prevent the sugar from crystallizing while cooking. It also prevents cooling sugars from forming brittle crystals, this is why it's the secret ingredient in snickerdoodles!
The most common culprit behind unset fudge is inaccurate temperature control. If the sugar mixture hasn't reached the correct temperature, your fudge won't set. Ensure you use a reliable candy thermometer and follow temperature guidelines meticulously to achieve the desired consistency.
The key to successful, nongrainy fudge is in the cooling, not the cooking. The recipe calls for heating the ingredients to the soft-ball stage, or 234° F, then allowing it to cool undisturbed to approximately 110° F.
If the temperature is too low, the fudge will be too soft and sticky, and if it's too high, it will turn into a hard, crumbly mess. The ideal temperature to cook fudge is between 232-234 degrees F (111-112 degrees C).
If your fudge is tough, hard, or grainy, then you may have made one of several mistakes: You may have overcooked it, beaten it too long, or neglected to cool it to the proper temperature.
Options for what you can do with your unset fudge:
OPTION 1) Depending on how runny it is, you can either use it as a frosting for cakes, or a sauce for ice-cream. OPTION 2) Freeze it overnight. Cut it into squares. Cover each square thickly in melted chocolate, ensuring no part of the fudge is exposed.
This fudge was cooked to a temperature of 118 °C (244 °F). At this temperature, the sugar is too concentrated and there is not enough water left to form syrup around sugar crystals. The result is hard and brittle fudge.
Sure enough, Carnation condensed milk comes with a warning: "Do not boil unopened can as bursting may occur." According to Serious Eats, when the boiling water evaporates, leaving the metal exposed, the can may warp, split, or yes, explode.
Undercooked. This fudge was cooked until the temperature reached only108 °C (226 °F). At this temperature, the sugar is not concentrated enough... there is too much leftover water in the syrup and the resulting fudge is soft.
The ingredients for fudge are combined and cooked to 234 degrees, cooled to 110 degrees without stirring, then beaten until creamy. Candy that isn't cooked long enough will end up too soft; overcooking makes fudge crumbly or hard.
Introduction: My name is Geoffrey Lueilwitz, I am a zealous, encouraging, sparkling, enchanting, graceful, faithful, nice person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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