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For this year’s neighbor Christmas gifts, we are going with classic fudge. I live in one of those Southern neighborhoods where everyone is so kind to each other, like you see in the movies. We normally do some kind of plate with a variety of treats, but this year I was in the mood to give my fabulous neighbors a nice block of fudge. Simple, but perfect, right?!
Maybe you’ve been intimidated by the idea of making classic fudge because you’ll need a candy thermometer? The candy thermometer should reassure you in a way, because instead of having to estimate things like when we make caramel, you just follow along with what the thermometer says.
I prefer to use the classic candy thermometer that you can pick up for less than $5. I don’t prefer it because I’m cheap, I really think they’re the easiest to use.
Here is this recipe for the perfect, classic fudge.
Classic Fudge
Ingredients
- 6 cup sugar
- 1.5 cup butter
- 12 oz evaporated milk
- 24 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 13 oz marshmallow cream
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Prepare a cookie sheet with wax paper on the bottom.
- Combine sugar, butter, and milk in sturdy pot.
- Slowly bring to a rolling boil on medium heat, stirring constantly.
- When the sugar mixture reaches 238 F, keep it at this temperature and boil 5 minutes while continuing to stir constantly. Watch the time carefully, because cook too long and the fudge will be dry. If you don't cook long enough, the fudge will be too soft. A minute can make a big difference at this stage.
- Remove from heat.
- Stir in chocolate chips until melted.
- Add marshmallow cream and vanilla, stir until well mixed.
- Pour and spread onto prepared cookie sheet.
- Cool thoroughly – a few hours or overnight. This makes about 6 pounds of fudge.
Sunday evening, we made FOUR batches of fudge. That is A LOT of sugar, butter, and chocolate. It was a beautiful mess and hopefully my kids had some fun.
I have so many memories of making this every year with my Dad at Christmas. He’d always let me sample the sugar mixture, which tastes a lot like caramel before the chocolate chips are added in. I always felt special being his assistant for such an important job.
For our gifts, I cut the edges of the pan off and set aside for my family’s fudge supply. Then, I cut the middle into 12 blocks of fudge and wrapped each in wax paper. (For Matt’s co-workers, I cut the pans into 8 blocks, so they’ll get a little more fudge each. This part is up to you!) I packed the fudge in cute little treat bags. These gifts were really easy to make actually. Really, none of this is hard once you embrace the fact that you really CAN make fudge and just go for it!
We reserved the edge pieces. They really end up adding up to be a lot. I will definitely not need to make separate batches to provide my family (and anyone who stops by) with lots of fudge. The edge pieces may not cut into perfectly perfect squares, but they still taste like fudge!
I hope you enjoy this recipe and make lots of memories with it too!
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I love this recipe!! And I love fudge! I will be doing this for sure with my kids! 🙂
Have fun!
This is similar to fudge that I make every year, but it doesn’t call for a thermometer. I’d like to try this one to see how it compares, since the one I make doesn’t always have a reliable consistency. Maybe I’ll make some for Valentine’s Day!
I have one question: Is the pan of fudge in the picture from one batch of the recipe, or did you combine all four batches and pour them into one pan? Just trying to get an idea what size pan I’d need to use for one batch.
Thank you!
One batch is one big cookie sheet. So yeah, we made SO MUCH this past Christmas. I was actually thinking about this fudge the other day and wondering how hard it would be to do some homemade candies in Easter baskets (some, not all, lol). I think Valentine’s is a great time!
This is the same recipe that I have used for 50 years. I dont use a thermometer I test using the soft ball method. I
make this every year around the holidays
Great tip, thanks for sharing! That sounds like what I do when I make caramel.