One of the things that beginning cooks learn to make is candy, with fudge being one of the first. It's fun to make candy and though there are many, many different candies available commercially, it's still fun to do this old-fashioned activity. It used to be common in many homes for families to make candy, usually on the weekend, since this was when everyone was usually home together.
Candy making has been known to be tricky and it can still be today. With the availability of candy thermometers and improved recipes, there's less failure in making candy as there used to be. I've had candy recipes to fail with me numerous times, mostly due to not reading the candy thermometer correctly and overcooking the mixture. This resulted in candy that wasn't creamy and smooth, but rather hard and gritty.
The recipe I'm sharing is for "Five-Minutes Fudge", and it's guaranteed not to fail. This recipe came from the 1950's and still works great every time I've made it. This recipe does call for some cooking, but not much. The advantages here are there's no need for a candy thermometer, soft-ball cooking tests or beating. The evaporated milk, sugar and salt and boiled together for five minutes. Then marshmallows, chocolate chips and vanilla are added. It's all stirred together and poured into a buttered pan. After completely cooling (which is hard to do!), it's ready to be cut into squares. You'll then have two pounds of creamy, smooth fudge!
The flavors of this fudge can be varied. Butterscotch chips, milk chocolate chips, peanut butter chips or mint chips can be used instead of the regular chocolate chips, if desired. You can get very creative with this recipe and I've included some variations that can be used, too.
Last year, I did a story on fudge, which included this recipe. It also included another fudge recipe, along with a "Fudge Pie" recipe. In case you didn't get those recipes, here's the link so you can:
http://www.examiner.com/article/fudge-for-those-you-love
If you've never had success with candy making, try this recipe and see if you don't have great luck with it!
FIVE-MINUTE FUDGE
- 2/3 cup undiluted evaporated milk
- 1-2/3 cups sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1-1/2 cups miniature marshmallows or 16 regular-sized marshmallows, diced
- 1-1/2 cups chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a saucepan, place evaporated milk, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook for five minutes, stirring constantly (begin timing mixture when it "bubbles" around the edges of the pan.) Remove from heat and add the marshmallows, chocolate chips and vanilla extract. Stir vigorously for one minute or until marshmallows melt. Pour into a buttered 8-inch square pan. Cool completely and cut into squares. Yield: 2 pounds.
Variations:
Peppermint Fudge: Sprinkle 1/4 cup coarsely crushed peppermint stick candy over the top of the fudge in the pan. If desired, 1 teaspoon peppermint extract can be used in place of the vanilla extract.
Upside-Down Coconut Fudge: Spread 1 cup flaked coconut in the bottom of the buttered pan and top with the fudge mixture.
Nut Fudge: Add 1/2 cup chopped nuts to fudge mixture before pouring into pan.
