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Homemade Yummy Fudge

"Delicious fudge! Homemade!"

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 10,018 recipes mention both. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

The recipe

1 - 8x8 inch dish
Prep30 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Melt the chopped unsweetened chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth, then set aside to cool.

  2. Line an 8x8 inch dish with parchment or plastic wrap, leaving overhang on two sides to lift the fudge out later.

  3. In a large bowl, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth and creamy.

  4. Beat in the salt and vanilla extract until fully combined.

  5. Gradually add the sifted confectioners' sugar, mixing on low speed until the mixture is thick and even.

  6. Beat in the cooled melted chocolate until the mixture is uniform in color.

  7. Stir in the chopped walnuts by hand until evenly distributed.

  8. Press the mixture firmly and evenly into the prepared dish, smoothing the top with a spatula.

  9. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours until firm, then lift out with the parchment and cut into squares.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Vanilla + chocolatetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together10,018 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Chocolate + walnuttop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  4. Cream cheese + walnuttop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together439 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Cream cheese + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,934 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

Vanilla and sugar share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,031 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream cheese, vanilla, sugar, chocolate):

  1. Pecansbetter flavor fit
  2. Almondbetter flavor fit
  3. Peanutabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream cheese, vanilla, sugar, chocolate. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).