Chocolate Fudge has always been my favorite candy. It's a very rich candy though, so I have always limited myself to making it only at Christmas time. For years I looked for the perfect fudge recipe. I made many different recipes that were really good, but just not "perfect". I had three main requirements for a perfect chocolate fudge recipe:
Easy. It has to be an easy recipe. I don't make candy often enough to remember the intricacies of dealing with candy thermometers, hard ball, soft ball, let alone remember the right millisecond in time to jump in and do something with the candy.
Taste. Of course, it has to be delicious, but my perfect fudge has to have that creamy melt-in-your-mouth texture. I've made many fudge recipes that turned out grainy for me. I'm sure I did something wrong along the way, but I didn't want to have to worry about that.
Availability of Ingredients. The perfect fudge recipe has to use ingredients readily available at any grocery store. In the past, I used to make a chocolate fudge that used marshmallow creme in the recipe. Many time I would have to go from store to store to find it, as it would be all sold out at Christmas time.
Finally, about 20 years ago a friend of mine gave me some fudge that she had made for Christmas. EUREKA! This was the fudge I had been looking for all of my life! What was even better is that my friend didn't mind sharing her recipe, and ever since then, I have made several batches of this fudge every year for Christmas and it has always turned out perfect.
The Perfect Chocolate Fudge Recipe
Follow these directions and you'll make creamy and delicious chocolate fudge every time.
This recipe makes 5 pounds of fudge, unless you make it without nuts, then it's 4 pounds.
Ingredients You Will Need:
20 oz. Hershey's milk chocolate bars - I buy the big ones that are always on sale at Christmas time, but any size will do, just make sure it adds up to 20 oz. If you like darker fudge, substitute some or all of the 20 oz. with the semi-sweet chocolate bars.
1 cup butter (not margarine!), softened to room temperature. Also, a little extra butter for your pans.
1-12 oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Use a good brand, as in Nestle's, Hershey's, or Ghiradelli. If you prefer lighter fudge, use milk chocolate chips.
4 cups granulated sugar.
1 and 2/3 cups evaporated milk
2 and 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 teaspoons vanilla, use the real stuff
1 pound of nuts, chopped
In your large stainless steel bowl, break up the milk chocolate candy bars and the butter into small pieces. Pour in chocolate chips and set aside.
Grease your pans with butter. You'll need two 9x13 inch flat cake pans, but you can use smaller or larger pans depending on what you have available, and how thick you want your fudge to be. It's best to have a couple of extra smaller pans ready just in case.
In a large saucepan or pot, combine sugar, evaporated milk and mini marshmallows. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Tip: Don't scrape the sides of the pot when you are stirring, it tends to make candy taste grainy.
Cook and stir at a light but steady boil for 7 minutes. You might see some brownish bits floating around as its cooking. This is normal. Remove from heat, pour over butter and chocolate in your bowl.
With a wooden spoon, stir until melted and well blended. Continue to stir until candy loses some of it's shine. (The shine should go from a shiny, high gloss to a matte gloss). Stir in vanilla and nuts, if desired.* Pour into buttered pans. Cool completely before cutting into pieces. Use a knife dipped in hot water for cutting.
*If you don't want nuts in your fudge, this is where you leave them out. If you want to make a pan of fudge without nuts, then first stir in the vanilla, then pour how much you want without nuts into a pan, and then add nuts to the remaining fudge. You'll need to adjust the amount of nuts then. For example, if you're making half of your fudge without nuts and half with, then only use 8 oz. of nuts.
