I first came up with the idea for this fudge during the Olympics a few years back. I was trying to make a gold medal themed dessert and I decided to try to recreate the flavors of the Hershey's Gold bar in dessert form. Luckily, I successfully achieved this goal! If you love a salty-sweet combo, this Salted Caramel Fudge is perfect for you!
How to make Salted Caramel Fudge
This is so easy to make and no baking is required! You'll start by melting together white chocolate and caramel. I use white chocolate chips, but you could also use white melting chocolates or chopped white chocolate. When you're melting the white chocolate, you want the pieces to be fairly evenly sized so it melts evenly. This makes using chips the easiest method - they're already the same size - but any white chocolate will work.
For the caramel, I use the canned dulce de leche. This works really well here for a few reasons. One is that it's already the exact right measurement! The other is that it's really thick, so as it warms it smooths into a nice, soft caramel. Caramel can be really finicky and can burn easily, but this warms up really nicely and blends well with the white chocolate as they melt together.
Once the caramel is soft and the white chocolate is mostly melted, remove from heat. Because the mixture is hot, it will continue to cook after it's removed from the stove, so you want to take it off the heat before it's fully melted. Once removed from heat, stir in the vanilla, pretzels, and peanuts. While you're stirring to incorporate these, the white chocolate should also finish melting into the mixture.
You'll pour this mixture into a lined pan and refrigerate for a few hours, to cool the mixture and let it harden into fudge. Cut into squares, give it a taste, and I'll let you decide whether or not you share with your friends! Enjoy!
Salted Caramel Fudge
Ingredients
- 3 cups white chocolate chips
- 1 can dulce de leche
- 1 cup pretzel pieces crush before you measure
- 1 cup peanuts smaller pieces
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
- Line an 8x8 pan with non-stick foil or wax paper.
- Combine chips and dulce de leche in a saucepan.
- Heat over low heat, stirring regularly, until the caramel is super soft and the chips are mostly melted.
- Remove from heat and stir in pretzels, peanuts, and vanilla.
- Pour into prepared pan and refrigerate 2-4 hours till set.
- Cut into pieces and enjoy!
The Better Baker says
Sounds right up my taste bud alley. SOOO glad you shared this amazing recipe.
Liz says
And it's super easy too! Hope you enjoy!
chris chetwynd says
Can you please tell me what dulce de leche is? I would love to make this fudge but have never heard of the ingredient before. Thanks for your help.
Liz says
It is a can of caramel. In many grocery stores it is either with the sweetened condensed milk or in the international section. It looks like this, but Nestle's La Lechera Sweetened Condensed Milk looks similar, so make sure you get the Dulce de Leche! Let me know if you can find it and make the fudge!
Gertraud says
Did you put salted or unsalted peanuts in it? And can I use a regular bar of white chocolate instead of the drops or do they melt/harden differently ?
I'm so glad I found your recipe btw because I live outside of the States but got hooked on the taste of Hersheys Gold when someone brought it home from travelling.
Liz says
Oh good! I'm so glad you found it too! I used salted peanuts, but if there is too much salt for your liking between the peanuts and pretzels, you could certainly use unsalted instead. You can use white baking chocolate or white chocolate melts instead of the chips, but I would chop it up a bit. A white chocolate candy bar may not solidify quite as much, but worth a try if that's what's available! Let me know how it turns out!!!