If I could only make one dessert for Christmas — which my mom might be happy about, but will never happen — it would be our traditional fudge. I love experimenting with flavors and finding new recipes all over the internet and in cookbooks, but this fudge is not something you mess with or substitute. My mom made this every year for the holidays until I took over and put it at the top of the list. It’s super easy and even more super delicious. I’ve even won contests with it at a 4th of July fest, and made my first ever recipe video through the local newspaper when I was “Cook of the Week.”
Because I love it too much to keep to myself, I’ll give you the recipe:
- 1 12 oz pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 12 oz pkg milk chocolate chips
- 2 squares unsweetened chocolate
- 1 cup butter
- 4 cups sugar
- 25 large marshmallows
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup nuts (optional)
- Mix sugar, milk, vanilla and butter in saucepan. Boil 2 minutes. Turn heat off, add marshmallows, stir. Add chocolate, stir. Add nuts.
See, it’s super simple too! Be aware, it makes a LOT of fudge. I mean I could probably eat half a pan by myself, but I’m a special case.
I’ve never changed the recipe, but I have added things to do – red, white & blue m&ms, crushed Oreos, pecans and caramel (the 4th of July winner), and my favorite, sea salt atop the finished fudge. Such a great add-on.
This Christmas, I felt like one fudge recipe just wouldn’t be enough. I wanted to have a fudge department of my cookie tablescape, so I went to one of my favorite recipe sites, RecipeGirl, and found two great fudges to try: Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge and Mint Truffle Fudge. Though the recipe writer, Lori, is pretty amazing with her choices, my desserts differed a bit. Technically with the PB ones, I screwed up the layering process, but with the Mint ones I used the Nestle bag of dark chocolate and mint chips as the fill in, so I probably used a different ratio.
I don’t eat peanut butter but I was told they were pretty delicious, despite the soft consistency – which was definitely due to my layering flub. The mint guys were a great flavor combo and served as an end of the night sweet – plus my niece enjoyed the simplicity of the recipe, it was easy to make with her!
Thanks to Lori for recipe inspiration, what are your favorite fudges? Or better yet, if you could only make or enjoy ONE holiday sweet, which would you pick?
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