Full question
I made the Chocolate Pistachio Fudge yesterday and I don't know why, but after at least 8 hours in the fridge it was messy, sticky and very difficult to cut due to its stickiness. I used 70% cocoa chocolate and I followed the instructions. The only thing I did, which it's not in the recipe, was to put the pistachios in boiled water to remove the thin brown skin. What could I have done wrong? I would like to make it again. Thank you.
Our answer
Nigella's Chocolate Pistachio Fudge (from NIGELLA EXPRESS) is an easy fudge made with sweetened condensed milk, dark (bittersweet) chocolate and pistachios. As it is not a boiled fudge, it will be slightly softer than a more traditional fudge, but you should be able to cut it into squares. However, you can freeze the fudge and then cut it into squares once it is firm, so don't throw it away! We suggest in this case that you store the fudge in the freezer and serve it directly from the freezer. It is almost nicer served frozen as it has a more grainy, traditional fudge-like texture.
If you blanched the pistachios to remove the skins then we wonder if they retained some moisture (even if you had blotted them dry) and that has caused the fudge to become sticky. The sugar in the fudge will attract moisture and it will be softer if you have damp or humid conditions or, in this case, if there was extra water introduced to the mixture. Instead of blanching the pistachios, you may prefer to toast them in a 180c/160c Fan/350F oven for about 10 minutes (watch them carefully as they can go from toasted to bitter quite easily) then transfer immediately to a clean tea towel and rub off as much of the skins as you can while the nuts are still warm. This should remove most of the skin, though not quite as much as blanching. But the nuts will be dry and toasting can help to bring out their flavour.
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