Holiday Gift Series: Fudge

My mother-in-law has a secret fudge recipe that is simply amazing. I’m drooling over the keyboard just thinking about it. It contains about a pound of butter and could quite possibly kill you if consumed in mass quantities.


This is not that fudge. But, for food storage, it's pretty darn good.



Ingredients: Sweetened condensed milk, semi-sweet chocolate chips, vanilla and unsweetened baking chocolate.




Find a pan to hold your fudge and grease the bottom and sides with shortening. I would have used my 8x8 pan if it hadn’t broken last week. I’m a clutz so Pyrex doesn’t last long around here.




No matter what your feelings for shortening, you ought to keep a tub just for greasing purposes. It is certainly less expensive than cooking spray.

When my college roommate, Squirtney (she’ll be thrilled with the nickname), would make fudge and she would line her pan with foil. When the fudge had set up, she just dumped it upside down and peeled off the foil. That works too.




When your pan is greased, or lined, add your sweetened condensed milk to a saucepan over low heat.



Add your chocolate chips.





Add your baking chocolate. The baking chocolate is optional. It makes for more chocolatey fudge—obviously. (You know, those who state the obvious are seldom wrong.) Anyway, if you crave darker chocolate fudge, go ahead and add a square of baking chocolate.




Stir it constantly over low-medium heat so the chocolate can melt.



When you make this, go ahead and chop up your baking chocolate a little before you dump it in. Then, you won’t be waiting for the one square of chocolate to melt, like me.



When it is melted and all smooth, take it off the heat.



Quickly add the vanilla and nuts, if you want, and stir until well combined.




Pour into your prepared dish and refrigerate for a couple of hours until it’s set.






When the fudge has chilled and you’ve sampled it, of course, cut it up.





I like to cut it into large squares and wrap them in saran wrap. I used to cut fudge into small pieces, but I could never get them uniform and it bothered me. I too, have OCD tendencies. Especially when it comes to fudge.



Try using this tutorial to make a paper box out of cardstock and deliver to your neighbors and friends with the fudge inside.




Save some for you!




Fudge
(From Betty Crocker)

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
1 oz (1 square) unsweetened baking chocolate
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional

Grease bottom and sides of 8x8 pan (or smaller) with shortening or line with aluminum foil. Heat milk and chocolate in saucepan over low-medium heat, stirring constantly until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and nuts if using. Refrigerate about 1.5-2 hours until firm.