Moulded Walnut Fudge Recipe – Milk and Cocoa fudge

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Walnut fudge, also known as Milk and Cocoa fudge is a traditional East Indian dessert made for Christmas! Made in various shapes and sizes, chunks or molded, it’s also the perfect dessert for a dinner with friends or a potluck. Try one and you can’t resist another!

Ever wondered why the traditional walnut fudge made by East Indians can be moulded? Me too! I haven’t found any real answer to this other than ‘It’s because we dry the milk a different way!’ or ‘It’s because we use the vanilla cream recipe!’ And not every family in our community does it. Many just cut it like normal fudge. So that’s another question. Why do some East Indians mould fudge? Anyways, if you’re wondering how to make this delicious Walnut Fudge, here’s the full recipe.

What are the ingredients for the Cocoa Walnut Fudge?

All you need to make this Christmas sweet is milk, sugar, butter, vanilla essence, ground walnuts, and cocoa powder or cacao powder.

How to make Walnut Fudge?

You’ll find that this Milk and Cocoa Fudge or Walnut Fudge follows a similar process as the Vanilla Cream. There’s just a slight difference with the walnuts and the cocoa or cacao.

Grind walnuts to a paste - Pic by Abby from AbbysPlate
Grind walnuts to a paste

Start by grinding the walnuts to a powder and setting aside. A paste of the walnuts is okay to use too.

Reduce milk over low flame - Pic by Abby from AbbysPlate
Reduce milk over low flame

Start by boiling the milk on a low flame in a nonstick or thick-bottomed pan and letting it reduce until it’s nearly half or a third of the original quantity.

Reduce the milk till almost half or a third the amount
Reduce the milk till almost half or a third the amount

Next, add in the sugar and stir with a wooden spoon.

Cocoa, milk and walnuts stirred with a wooden spoon in a blue vessel.
Add cocoa, walnuts, butter and stir

Once the sugar melts, add in the butter, powdered walnuts, cocoa powder or cacao powder, and vanilla essence and stir continuously till it thickens. Continue to stir for about an hour or so till the fudge starts to leave the sides.

Walnut fudge mixture in a blue vessel with a wooden spoon.
Mixture thickens and leaves sides

When it does, do the ball test which is as follows. Take out a teaspoonful of fudge and cool. Butter your fingers, and try to form a ball with that fudge. If a ball forms, the fudge is ready to be moulded. If a ball doesn’t form, keep stirring, and try making a ball again after a few minutes. Repeat this process till the ball is formed; then pour out the fudge onto a greased tray and form into a large ball.

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A lump of walnut fudge on a steel thali.
Remove the mixture in a thali

Fill the fudge dough into silicon moulds to form the shapes you desire. This recipe will make about 100 pieces.

I found it really difficult to find these types of molds outside India though. So if you can’t find them, use any other silicon molds shaped like Christmas trees or stars or other Christmas items and you’re good to go.

Hand holding fudge above a pink silicon mould and a butter bowl and fudge on a thali in the background.
Shape the walnut fudge using moulds
Walnut fudge on 3 steel thalis with a bowl of butter and silicon moulds nearby.
Fudge being moulded and placed on thalis
Walnut fudge on a thali.
Walnut fudge kept to dry on a thali

If you don’t want to take the trouble of moulding the coco fudge, you don’t have to go through the process of testing to form balls. When the walnut fudge starts to look dry, pour it onto a greased tray and cut into pieces. This will make it more like regular walnut fudge or the Indian akroth barfi.

Milk and cocoa fudge on a white plate with designs.
Milk and Cocoa fudge

If you’re a fan of cocoa, you can add an extra tablespoon to the mixture to get a darker color and richer taste. We do this sometimes. Other times, we don’t add any cocoa at all. It tastes absolutely different then. I prefer the version without cocoa, sis prefers the version with. Just like I prefer dark fruit cake with a mix of candied orange peel soaked in rum, while sis prefers her dark fruit cake with brandy.

Also, if you use cacao powder instead of cocoa powder, just reduce the quantity by 2/3rds because it’s a bit stronger.

In the end, it really depends on you, which version do you like to make. Anyways, that’s it for our recipe. Is it similar to how your family makes it? Even if you’re trying this recipe for the first time, leave me a review below and let me know how it went.

7 pieces of walnut fudge on a white plate with circular designs.
Yummy Walnut Fudge
Walnut fudge served on a white plate for Christmas
Walnut fudge for Christmas
7 pieces of walnut fudge on a white plate with circular designs.

Moulded Milk and Cocoa Fudge – Walnut Fudge Recipe

Abby
The traditional recipe for the East Indian walnut fudge dessert made for Christmas using milk, sugar, and walnuts is gluten-free as well as vegetarian.
5 out of 5 Stars by 4 readers!

Click the stars to add your rating! Left you don’t like it, right you love it!

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Moulding Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Course Christmas, Dessert
Cuisine East Indian
Servings 100 Pieces
Calories 23 kcal
Desserts icon on Abbysplate website.
Gluten free icon on Abbysplate website.
Vegetarian icon on Abbysplate website.

Ingredients
  

  • 1 l Milk
  • 200 gm Sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon Butter
  • 3 drops Vanilla Essence
  • 125 gms Walnut Powdered or Grated
  • 1 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder See notes for Cacao powder.

Instructions
 

  • Grease a large wide bottomed pan or flatboard with butter and leave aside. We call this pan a thala.
  • Grind the walnuts to a powder or paste and leave aside.
  • Boil the milk in a thick bottomed or non-stick pan till it reduces to half or a third of the amount.
  • Add in the sugar and stir with a wooden spoon.
  • Once the sugar has melted, add in the butter, powdered or grated walnuts, and vanilla essence and stir continuously till it thickens.
  • Lastly, you'll add in the cocoa powder or cacao powder and stir for about an hour till the fudge starts to leave the sides.
  • Do the ball test now. For this test, you butter your fingers and try to form a ball with that fudge. If a ball forms, the walnut fudge is ready to be moulded. If you can't form a ball, just keep stirring, and try making a ball again after a few minutes. Repeat this step till the ball is formed; then pour out the fudge onto a greased tray and form into a large ball.
  • Fill the fudge dough into silicon molds to form the Christmas tree or Santa shapes your family loves. You'll end up with about 100 pieces.
  • And that's it! Your fudge is ready. Just leave it out to dry for a few hours or overnight and it's ready to go! Enjoy!

Please click to rate the recipe! Left you don’t like it, right you love it!

Notes

  • The amount of cocoa powder can be doubled or not put in at all. That’s up to you. If you have any questions, ping me at abby@abbysplate.com
  • If using cacao instead of cocoa, just reduce the quantity by 2/3rds because it’s a bit stronger.
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Nutrition (Per Serving)

Calories: 23kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 5mg | Potassium: 20mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 20IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mg

Disclaimer: Nutrition Information per serving is estimated by a third party software based on the ingredients used, and is for informational purposes only. It will vary from product to product, based on methods of preparation, origin and freshness of ingredients. Please consult the package labels of the ingredients you use, or chat with your dietician for specific details.

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