Dad's Favorite Fudge

Simply Recipes

Makes about 3 pounds of fudge.

Most of us have memories of special food we enjoyed at Christmas when we were little. The clearest memory for me is of my dad making fudge for all of us (six kids). The last time I recall him making his fudge was when we all still lived at home 25 some odd years ago. This year I made it for him, fishing out his old recipe, which as it turns out, comes from the back of a 7 oz. jar of Kraft's marshmallow cream. It is known as "fantasy fudge" and is just as good as I remember it. The recipe makes about 3 lbs of fudge, so I can see why he hasn't made it in a while; that's a lot of fudge! Regarding the marshmallow cream, I think you could easily substitute 7 oz of plain marshmallows. A Lynch favorite at Christmas too!

• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1 lb semi-sweet chocolate, chips or block chocolate chopped up
• 7 oz. jar marshmallow cream
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Prepare everything in advance and have ready to go - chopped chocolate, chopped nuts, best to have marshmallow cream already out of the jar and in a bowl that you can easily scrape out with a rubber spatula. Line a 13"x9"x2" baking pan with foil, butter the inside (alternatively, line the pan with waxed paper).

2. In a 3-quart, thick-bottomed saucepan, bring sugar, butter, and milk to a rolling boil on medium heat, stirring constantly once the mixture begins to bubble. Once the mixture reaches a boil, set your timer to 4 minutes. You will want to remove the mixture from the heat once it reaches 234°F on a candy thermometer (234°F at sea-level, adjust for altitude) which should take about 4 minutes. If you don't have a candy thermometer, just go with the four minutes.

3. Remove from heat. Quickly stir in chocolate and marshmallow cream. Once those have melted and are well mixed, stir in the vanilla and then the walnuts.

4. Pour into prepared pan.

5. Cool to room temperature before slicing (about 4 hours). You may want to chill in the refrigerator to get it more firm.