Classic Chocolate Fudge

 Yum! Yum! Yum! It’s time to share another one of my favorite Christmas candy recipes from my childhood. My mom made this Classic Chocolate Fudge recipe every Christmas. She loved it so much, she was known for making it on many a Sunday evening for a quick treat, too. In addition to Classic Chocolate Fudge add Old Fashioned Cherry Mash Chocolates to your list of treats to make this Christmas.

My mom always kept the leftover cuts of the fudge in small squared pieces in a baggie in the fridge. I loved coming home from school and sneaking a piece or two. 🙂

Because this fudge is made with simple everyday ingredients, it is very possible you have all of these things in your pantry and could make your very own batch right now. Hurry! Go check!

Delicious Fudge and Fudge Bars

• Crazy Good Mint Fudge
• Candy Bar Peanut Butter Fudge
• Butterscotch Crunch Fudge with a Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl
• Oatmeal Chocolate Fudge Bars
• Peanut Butter Fudge Bar Recipe
• Crazy Good Whole Wheat Brownies with Fudge Frosting

This might be a good time to bring up that not all fudge recipes are created equal. Fudge should have a silky, slightly firm consistency with just a little bit of a chew to it.

A new fad with fudge is to use sweetened condensed milk in place of boiling the sugar and evaporated milk. (Essentially, what you are doing is making your own sweetened condensed milk.) I find that fudge recipes that are made with sweetened condensed milk are not quite as firm and a little chewier than classic fudge recipes. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll still eat it. But this recipe produces a very classic and traditional fudge consistency.

Even with boiling the sugar and the evaporated milk, this recipe only takes about 10 minutes to throw together. I think it’s totally worth it to use the classic method.

Until I started making fudge on my own, I was a little intimidated. Candy-making, in general, tends to get a bad name and scare people off. But fudge is a GREAT place to start, if you get nervous about trying to make homemade candy. It is REALLY HARD to ruin this recipe.

how to make classic chocolate fudge

• Butter a 9×9 dish and set it aside.
• Combine sugar and evaporated milk in a medium-sized saucepan.
• Before turning burner on, prep other ingredients and put them by the stove for easy access to add once sugar mixture is finished boiling. See picture below.

• Turn burner on to medium-high. Bring evaporated milk and sugar to a boil, stirring constantly.
• Once at a full boil, set timer for 5 minutes, turn heat down slightly but keep it at a full boil, stirring constantly. Make sure to stir all the way to the bottom of the pan.

• After five minutes, remove from heat. Quickly add the remaining ingredients–butter, chocolate chips, marshmallows, vanilla, and nuts, if desired. Stir vigorously until everything is blended together. It takes a little arm muscle to get it to a nice, smooth chocolate color.

• Once it is ready, quickly pour it into the prepared buttered pan.

• Don’t scrape the grainy-looking top edges of the fudge into the pan. Scrape that little bit out onto a separate plate, or just leave it in the pan. See picture below.

• If only putting nuts in half of the fudge, sprinkle them now onto half of the fudge. Then, gently use your finger or a butter knife to press the nuts down into the fudge.

• Let fudge cool completely for a few hours on the counter before cutting and serving. To speed up cooling time, put it in the fridge.

Classic Chocolate Fudge is very versatile and almost impossible to ruin. The only way you can ruin this recipe is if you don’t stir the sugar and evaporated milk mixture when it is boiling.

So go ahead and check your cupboards. See if you can round up everything you need for a batch of fudge. You’ll love it!

Best Tips for making Classic Chocolate Fudge

• To quickly add and mix the remaining ingredients–butter, chocolate chips, marshmallows, vanilla, and nuts–put them by the stove for easy access once sugar mixture is finished boiling. I even keep the buttered pan right next to me, so I can quickly pour in the fudge.
• Continuously stir the sugar and evaporated milk mixture while it is coming to a boil. The five minutes need to be at a full boil. As a rule when making any candy, stirring means you are going all the way to the bottom of the pan and scraping along every part of it and around the edges. Then doing it all over again and again.
• Never scrape the crustier-looking edges from the top of the pan into the nicely poured pan of fudge. My mom always had a little plate nearby that she scraped them onto. Now I do the same thing. It’s my own personal taste test while the rest cools. Sometimes when making candy if sugar gets to a certain point, it can become grainy or cause the batch of whatever you are making to “go-to sugar.” My mom did this in an attempt to make sure that wouldn’t happen. I never remember her fudge going to sugar. Also, I have never had it happen to me.
• Some people in my family like nuts, and some people don’t. I sprinkle nuts on half of the fudge immediately after I pour it into the pan. I then carefully use my finger or a butter knife to press them down into the fudge a little bit.
• Add other mix-ins to the fudge besides nuts, if you want. I have done M&Ms to make it look festive and marshmallows and peanuts to make it like Rocky Road. I have even used white chocolate chips and mixed in crushed Oreo’s.

chef’s tools:

• 9×9 Baking Dish
• Wooden Spoon
• Saucepan
• Airtight Container
• Chef’s Knife
• Cutting Board