Beat the credit crunch and bake your own Christmas gifts with celebrity chef Phil Vickery

Makes approx 1Kg

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 397g can Carnation Condensed Milk
  • 150ml (1/4 pt) milk
  • 450g (1lb) Demerara sugar
  • 100g (4 oz) butter
  • 150g (5oz) glace cherries, halved
  • 50g (2 oz) stem ginger, chopped

Method

1) Grease and base a 20cm (8 in) square cake tin with baking parchment.

2) Heat the milks, sugar and butter in a large, non-stick saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves completely.

3) Bringing to the boil and simmer over a low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring continuously and scraping the base of the pan, until a soft ball of fudge is formed when a little of the mixture is dropped into a jug of ice cold water.

4) Remove from the heat and beat the fudge by hand until thick and grainy (about 10 minutes).

5) Gently stir in the remaining ingredients. Pour into the prepared tin and leave to cool before cutting into squares.