Skaarup's Chocolate fudge

Prep time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 c butter
  • 2 1/2 c sugar (extra fine granulated preferred)
  • 5 oz evaporated milk
  • 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 6-7 oz marshmallow creme / fluff (1 jar)
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts or 1 4 oz bag (optional)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Line a 9x9 pan with aluminum foil and set aside. Place chocolate chips, vanilla, and marshmallow creme into a 3 quart saucepan (or pyrex bowl) and set aside. Chop walnuts and set aside. Heat milk at medium setting until warm and add sugar. Bring to a rolling boil (medium-high), stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Continue to boil for about 8 minutes (if using a candy thermometer, continue boiling until temperature reaches 235 F), but do not exceed 9 minutes rolling boil total. Remove from heat and add butter. Stir until dissolved, but no more than 30 seconds.

Pour hot mixture over chocolate, vanilla, and marshmallow without scraping the sides of the saucepan. Mix until the chocolate is melted. Add walnuts if desired. Mix thoroughly and cast into the prepared pan. Cool at room temperature. Chill in refrigerator prior to cutting. remove from pan, remove foil, cut into squares.

Optional: Add 3-4 ounces of room temperature cream cheese or Neufchatel to the boiling slurry at 6 minutes into the boil. Extend boiling time to 9 minutes. The fudge will be softer, but still set. Apparently this is especially good with white chips as the base (but I hate white chips, so ew)

Notes

Skaarup's fudge recipes are full of awesome, and really, really tasty. I have yet to have a fudge failure using this recipe. The most important rule is: Water is the ENEMY of fudge. Avoid making fudge on a rainy day, it has a much lower chance of setting.