Fantasy Fudge

When I was a little girl, my Mamaw made fudge every year around the holidays.  She made peanut butter and chocolate fudge.  Fudge is one of those things that reminds me of my Mamaw, who's been gone for about 15 years now.  Over the years, I have taught myself many things that I think my Mamaw would have been proud of, canning, quilting, reading crochet patterns, making apple butter- but I had always heard that fudge was just hard to make and it was so picky and it had to be done *just* right or it wouldn't turn out.

Several years ago, I attempted a batch from a recipe I found somewhere and it didn't turn out.  But not being a person who gives up on things easily, I wanted to try again.  So last year, I made this recipe, and it turned out great!  I found this recipe on Kraft.com and I will include a link to that page at the bottom of the blog.

Ingredients:

3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 5oz can evaporated milk
1.5 pkg (12 squares) Semi- sweet baking chocolate, chopped
1 7oz jar marshmallow cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)


Line a 9 inch square pan with foil or waxed paper, leaving the ends of the paper extending over the sides.

In a medium saucepan, bring the sugar, butter, and evaporated milk to a full rolling boil.  DO NOT use sweetened condensed milk.  Make sure it is evaporated milk!  Stir the mixture constantly and cook for 4 minutes or until it reaches 234 degrees on a candy thermometer.  Remove from heat.

Add the chopped chocolate and marshmallow cream, stirring until it's all melted in.  Add vanilla and nuts, if you want them.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, spreading it to cover the bottom.  Cool completely and use the paper or foil to lift it from the pan before cutting.

I like to put this is my treat boxes that I give as gifts at Christmas time. This is a very rich candy and a little goes a long way!  When making Christmas cookies or candies, I always use real butter.  I know that the recipes say you can use margarine, but I always feel like giving it as a present makes it worth the very best ingredients.  If you enjoy making fudge and caramels and the like, I suggest you invest in a candy thermometer.  There are tricks to see what stage the mixture is at, but nothing works as good as a thermometer.


The original can be found on Kraft recipes at http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/fantasy-fudge-51833.aspx