Slow Cooker Pistachio and Cherry Fudge

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We have created so many slow cooker recipes over the years and out fudge ones are always some of our favourites. Our latest slow cooker fudge creation combines two of my top flavours – pistachio and cherry.

This easy fudge is made using ready shelled pistachios, rinsed glace cherries and just a little pistachio flavouring. It’s a chocolate fudge but you wouldn’t know – the only real flavours are the pistachio and cherry. If you wanted, you could use dried cherries instead of rinsed glace cherries, whichever you prefer or have to hand.

If you wanted a more chocolate flavour to complement the pistachio and cherry, you could use 500g milk chocolate instead of the white chocolate. When making fudge you don’t need as much milk chocolate as white chocolate as the cocoa solids in it are higher.

When should you make pistachio and cherry fudge?

With the green and red flavours, cherry pistachio fudge works so well during the festive season – and you could add a few drops of green food colouring to give it an even more festive feel. But, like all fudge, this can be enjoyed all year round, not just at Christmas.

What sort of slow cooker or crockpot should I use?

You can use any slow cookers for this home made fudge but if you have an overly large one you may find it doesn’t take quite as long to cook so adjust the cooking time accordingly.

As with all baking recipes you do need to invest in decent baking paper – we’ve found having good quality sheets makes all the difference.

How long does slow cooker fudge keep for?

This slow cooker fudge keeps well in the fridge, in an airtight container for a couple of weeks. The flavour matures over the first couple of days of it being in the fridge so you get the full flavour after it’s been in the fridge for a few days.

Can you make this fudge in the microwave?

Many people make fudge in the microwave but I much prefer the control I have when I make it in the crock pot or slow cooker. If you don’t have a slow cooker, make it in the fudge by putting the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and heating on short bursts in the microwave, stirring in between. Then follow the instructions as per the recipe below.

Can you make slow cooker fudge with evaporated milk?

Our slow cooker fudge works because condensed milk has a really high sugar content, needed to create that beautifully rich fudge. Evaporated milk isn’t the same, doesn’t have that sugar content and isn’t thick enough to help the fudge thicken and set. You can’t use evaporated milk in these recipes – so get some condensed milk instead.

Do you cook slow cooker fudge high or low temperature?

We always cook fudge on a high slow cooker temperature setting and it takes around 40 minutes in total. You could make it on the low setting but it would take longer and would still need to be stirred regularly. You may as well keep the slow cooker on high and be done in under an hour!

When cooking, is the slow cooker fudge lid on or off?

When making slow cooker fudge, you need to remove the slow cooker lid otherwise excess moisture would be retained in the slow cooker pot and the fudge wouldn’t thicken as it needs to.

If you’re looking for other fudge recipes to try, give our coffee and walnut, peanut butter or Eton Mess fudge a try? You can see all our fudge recipes to date here.

What equipment do you need to make slow cooker fudge?

Slow cooker fudge doesn’t need anything special to make it, and you probably already have everything you need at home, but this is the equipment we use:

• A slow cooker
• A wooden spoon
• A spatula
• A square baking tin
• Baking paper sheets
• Good quality knives to cut the fudge into pieces
• Airtight containers for storage
• Food gift bags to package it up and give the fudge as gifts

Once you’ve got everything you need to make the fudge you can just keep making it again and again – in so many different flavours too!

So here’s our perfect Slow Cooker Cherry and Pistachio Fudge recipe:

Ingredients

• A 397 ml tin condensed milk
• 600 g white chocolate – can be bars or sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp pistachio flavouring
• 100g shelled pistachio nuts
• 100g glace cherries, halved

Instructions

• Break the chocolate up and add to the slow cooker bowl with the sweetened condensed milk and flavouring.
• Turn the slow cooker on to high and leave to cook for 40 minutes with the lid off, stirring every ten minutes.
• Whilst cooking, rinse and dry the glace cherries.
• When melted, thick and well combined, remove from the heat and stir in the pistachio nuts and cherries.
• Pour the mixture into a tin lined with parchment paper or silicone baking tray and put in the fridge to set – preferably overnight.

If you’d like to pin or print this Slow Cooker Pistachio and Cherry Fudge recipe for making fudge later you can do so at the bottom of the page. Happy baking!