Great-Grandmother's Fudge Recipe: Patience Is the Key to This Chocolate Candy (5 Ingredients) by Terri Kendrick

I have a yellowed and worn cookbook that belonged to my great-grandmother, Grace, copyright 1930. Inside the front cover is a recipe for fudge handwritten in pencil in beautiful cursive. My grandmother was always famous for her peanut butter fudge, so I imagined her mother must’ve taught her. I decided Valentine’s Day was a good time for me to grab the torch.

Unfortunately, my first fudge attempt was an epic fail. For a rookie candy maker, this fudge recipe included far too few details, and I ended up with chocolate sauce instead. However, I wasn’t defeated. I went to AllRecipes and found a fudge recipe with similar ingredients but more instruction. This time I got closer – the result was closer to chocolate taffy than chocolate sauce – but it still wasn’t fudge. But the flavor was incredible! I made balls out of part of this taffy-ish mixture and put the rest in a plastic container.

Well, the next morning, my husband dug a spoon into the plastic container and announced that the taffy had transformed overnight into something pretty close to fudge! (I’m sure there’s some scientific explanation, but I prefer to think of it as the magic of cooking!) While I didn't have a full batch and it still wasn’t perfect, I did have something more closely resembling fudge. I counted this as a win!

Pro Tip: If you don't have a candy thermometer (a meat thermometer is not the same), drop a small amount of the mixture into cold water. If it forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface, it's at temperature. This didn't work for me, which should have been my first red flag. Achieving the proper temperature is critical to melting the sugar crystals and removing moisture. Some people recommend not reducing the heat all the way to "low" to reach 238 degrees F. Others suggest using less milk.

The lesson I’ve learned is fudge making is not mastered in a day (just ask Willy Wonka!). This decadent candy takes a lot of patience and time, trial and error! Next time, I won’t give up as quickly. And I’ll have bought myself a candy thermometer by then, too!

Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 20 minutes 
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 10

Ingredients

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup whole milk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced and softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Here’s how to make it:

1. Before turning on the burner, put sugar and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan. Add milk and stir well. Set your heat to medium-high and stir the mixture constantly until it starts to boil.
2. Reduce heat to low and allow the mixture to simmer until the temperature reaches 238 degrees F, using a candy thermometer. This should take approximately 10 minutes, maybe slightly longer. Do not stir during this time! See Recipe Notes if you don't have a candy thermometer.
   
3. Once the mixture has reached this temperature, remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool to 110 degrees F. Again, do not stir. Once completely cool, add the butter and vanilla to the fudge, and stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon until the additional ingredients are incorporated and the fudge loses its sheen. (The amount of time to beat the mixture at the end is not defined; however, next time I will beat the heck out of it!)
   
4. Pour this mixture into a greased 8x8-inch pan and smooth the top. (I did not have an 8x8-inch pan and used a loaf pan instead.)
   
5. Let cool at room temperature or in the refrigerator before cutting into squares. This may take overnight. The fudge should have a hard outer surface, which cracks when you cut it, with a soft middle. Store the fudge in an airtight container.
   

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