In my new cookbook, New England Desserts, I have a recipe for old-fashioned chocolate fudge made with pure sugar, butter, and cream (and chocolate, of course). It's amazing. But like any skill worth learning, it takes practice for the texture to come out just right: creamy and smooth instead of dry and crumbly or weirdly soft and granular. It also requires a candy thermometer for best results.
For folks who don't have the time or inclination to go to heroic lengths for fudge, I'm reprising this easy fudge recipe that I started making in high school. It doesn't require a candy thermometer and it's basically foolproof. I mean, I'm sure it can fail if you try hard enough, but I find it 99% reliable (1% user error). Honestly, I'm not sure I could tell the difference between this recipe and the more complicated cookbook version in a blind taste-test (note to self: that would be a super-fun experiment). People love it either way.
So here's the easy version. It's good to have this recipe in your back pocket for when you really want to impress someone and/or sit alone and indulge yourself in secret.
Chocolate Fudge
Use quality chocolate. The better the chocolate, the better the fudge.
1 cup (6 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla
2¼ cups sugar
1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter
¾ cup evaporated milk
16 large marshmallows
¼ tsp. salt
Line an 8-inch square cake pan with foil. Get your handheld electric mixer ready and have some oven mitts nearby.
To a large bowl, add the chocolate chips and vanilla. Set aside.
In a medium, 4-quart saucepan (no smaller or it will boil over), add the sugar, butter, evaporated milk, marshmallows, and salt. Stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, bring to a boil over medium heat. You want the marshmallows to be just about melted by the time the bubbling starts. If they’re not, reduce the heat a bit until they do. Once melted, bring the mixture to a heavy boil and, always stirring, set the timer for 5 minutes. Careful—the hot mixture can spatter.
Remove the pot from the heat immediately, and carefully pour the hot mixture over the chocolate chips. On low speed, blend with the mixer until uniformly brown (blending on a higher speed will introduce air bubbles, which you don’t want). Quickly pour the fudge into your prepared pan. Let it cool. Cover and refrigerate until firm. Cut into 1-inch blocks with a hot knife (run the knife under hot water and wipe). Store covered in the refrigerator for about 1 week. Makes 2 lbs.
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