GITK – Fabulous Fudge

This is my favorite fudge recipe. I have no idea where it came from. I think I may have found it sometime in the early 90’s when I was looking for good holiday recipes. I have no idea. My earliest memory of using this particular fudge recipe was in 1994 when I made pounds upon pounds when I was home for Christmas from graduate school. I was helping my mother with her Christmas Goodie plates that she always made and this was a new addition. (My brother always used to be the fudge guy. That was his thing – he always helped my mom make it and I made the cookies and the cakes. I don’t know when that stopped.) In 1994, I experimented with all kinds of chips. At that time, Hershey’s was making Raspberry Chocolate chips and Mint chocolate chips and both of these made absolutely outstanding fudge. The hint of flavor with the chocolate was simply scrumptious. I found that milk chocolate chips made much softer fudge – it didn’t set up well and had to remain in the ‘fridge. I’m sure I tried peanut butter chips (but probably not butterscotch. I’m not a huge butterscotch fan.), but I don’t remember how the PB chips worked out.

Last year I made this fudge for the people I support at work and then I made a batch for the office holiday party. I found that Nestlé has a variety of swirled chips and I chose the mint swirled ones for the office party. Unlike the (sadly) discontinued Hershey’s version, which was just chocolate chips infused with mint extract, the Nestlé chips were half chocolate and half some kind of mint stuff. I don’t know if it was green colored, mint-flavored white chocolate or what. What I found, however, was that these, too, made much softer fudge so by the end of the party, the fudge that was left sort of melded into a blob in the bottom of the bowl. But, it still tasted good!

This last time, I used Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips and I’m not sure I was really thrilled with how they turned out. Now I’m a big fan of bittersweet chocolate and the fudge was a hit at the office (I made two batches and ended up with one piece left at the end of the day, and I cut small pieces), but I thought perhaps the chocolate was too strong for those people who prefer milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate. The sugar and marshmallows didn’t sweeten the bitterness as much as I thought they might. But, the fudge was still good. So, without further ado, here is my recipe for Fabulous Fudge:

Ingredients:

2 T. butter
⅔ C. Evaporated Milk
1½ C. granulated sugar
2 C. mini marshmallows
1½ C. chocolate chips
½ C. pecans or walnuts (optional)
1 t. vanilla

1. Line an 8x8 (or 9x9) inch pan with foil. Set aside.
2. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stir together butter, sugar and milk.
3. Stirring constantly, bring mixture to a boil and boil (while continuing to stir) for 4 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients.
5. Stir mixture until marshmallows and chips are completely melted.
6. Pour mixture into prepared pan.
7. Chill until firm.
8. Cut into bite-sized pieces