The End

Yes folks, this is the last post on the Princess and the Recipe. After two years, I just don't have the time any more, and have decided to focus on other projects.

I've come a long way since I first started the blog. It all started when I was living in Hong Kong and, with a miniscule kitchen and more restaurants than you could shake a stick at, I was eating out more than ever before. I started blogging to keep a record for myself of all the exciting new places I was eating. Soon though, people started to read what I was writing, I got comments and made friends. On my move back to the UK I kept it up, and things got even better as I met other bloggers (in real life!), got together for Dine with Dos Hermanos, disastrous food quizzes and pigouts.

I began to love writing so much that in January of last year I quit my job to study for a journalism diploma. Since then, I have been getting work experience and writing freelance. Slowly but surely, things are coming together, my portfolio of published pieces is growing and I am getting more and more work.

The more I write for a living though, the more the blog suffers. As a lot of you know, blogging takes time, love and effort. For me, it has run its course. I've discovered a whole new career and way of life, plus of course many good friends who I am sure I will still be feasting with on a regular basis. So, thanks for reading, and here's to the next chapter!

Ginger & honey fudge

Yes, I know. It's January. We all should be dieting, exercising or being otherwise virtuous to purge ourselves of our Christmas sins. But when the weather's this cold and wintry, all I want to do is curl up with some sickly-sweet carbs, and this soft and luscious fudge ticks my boxes.  If you're on a diet, cut them small and share them with your friends!

Ginger & honey fudge (from Life is Sweet, by Hope & Greenwood)

Ingredients

450g granulated sugar
150ml runny honey
75g unsalted butter
200ml condensed milk
200ml double cream
5 chunks of stem ginger, finely chopped, plus 2tbsp of the syrup

Method

1. Line a 20cm square baking tin with baking parchment.
2. Put the sugar, honey, butter, condensed milk and cream into a large saucepan.  Heat it gently, stirring every now and then with a wooden spoon, until all the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
3. Turn up the heat and put your sugar thermometer into the mixture.  Stir every now and then to make sure the mixture doesn't burn.  Be careful once it gets to 100c!
4. Keep heating slowly until the mixture reaches 115c.  Take the pan off the heat and whisk the mixture using an electric whisk (I did mine in the KitchenAid) for 10 minutes.
5. Add the ginger and syrup.  Whisk for 10 more minutes until the fudge looks less glossy
6. Pour into the tin.  Cut into rough squares once set.  The fudge is quite sticky so I wrapped each square in a twist of greaseproof paper to stop them sticking together.