Page 43 of Meet Me at the Fudge Shop

Worse, now she really felt petty as she moved past Declan and partially unwrapped a slab of butter. She moved it slowly back and forth across the first marble table.

“What are you doing?”

“The first step in making fudge is to pull the warming blanket off the marble table—which I’ve already done—and butter it so the fudge doesn’t stick.”

“So that was my problem.”

“One of many.”

“Har har.” Declan came alongside her, studying her hand movements. A pad of paper and pen had magically appeared in his hands. “And why do we use the blankets again?”

“We use marble tables in particular because they help cool the fudge more quickly so the whole process doesn’t take too long. But with our climate here, they get too cold overnight and would make the fudge set up too quickly if left uncovered overnight.”

“Ah.” He scribbled on his paper.

She set the unused butter back on the counter. “I’m curious—how many batches did you try that didn’t turn out?”

“I’m not gonna answer that.” He tapped the pen against the paper. “What’s next?”

“We add water and liquid glucose to the kettle, then light the burner. For the first one of the day, it takes a minute or two to heat up.” Lily followed her own instructions in real time as she explained. “Then you add the chocolate and let it all melt.” She grabbed a paddle and stirred the mixture in the pot counter-clockwise. “Now comes the sugar.”

“That’s a lot of sugar.”

“It’s fudge. Basically chocolate-y sugar.”

“Is that an official recipe name?”

“Maybe for your boring recipes.” A rich, sweet smell filled the shop.

“I believe the word you’re searching for isclassic.” But he wore a smile when he said it.

And oh no, she smiled back.What?

She pointed to the kettle. “Okay, now we’re gonna add butter and evaporated milk. Let that melt. You want to try?”

“Sure.” He set down the pen and paper, got the ingredients, dumped them in, then took the paddle. Stirred. “Like this?” His arms easily worked the mixture, muscles flexing with each go-round.

He glanced up at her. “Lily?”

“What?” Yikes. He’d caught her staring. “Oh, yep. Looking great.” She winced at her choice of words. “I mean, you’re doing a great job.”

His brow furrowed as he focused on letting it all melt together. “Now what?”

“Now it’s important to wash the residual sugar off the top insides of the kettle with some water on a pastry brush so it doesn’t burn.”

“Ah.”

“Yet another ruined batch story?” she teased.

“No comment,” he grumbled, and Lily couldn’t hold back a smile as he worked the sugar down with the brush. When he was finished, he looked up at her. “Now we heat the fudge to two-forty, right? That’s what my research said.”

“Yeah, but the exact temperature changes based on different factors. Things like air temperature, humidity, the softness of your butter, the speed of heat application. Typically, I heat it to two-thirty-four and then slowly allow it to increase until it feels right.”

“Feels right? Can’t you give me some exact measurements?”

She shrugged. “Sorry.” Then she shooed him aside and reached for the wooden paddle he held. “Here, I’ll stir while you set up the metal framing on the table. We’ll pour the fudge from the kettle onto the slab and let it cool for five or ten minutes. I’ll show you how to know when it’s cool enough to cream up.”

“You got it, boss.”

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