I stopped caring about my chocolate fudge and it worked!

Hi Bakers,

They should call it  “Oh *!@#!!” instead of fudge because that’s what you want to say when it fails. I’ve made fudge for decades; sometimes it works, and sometimes it comes out hard and terrible. This year, I didn’t worry about it and made it with things I had in the house instead of trying to be exact. I used actual marshmallows (instead of fluff), less sugar, and a tiny bit of espresso. It was the best fudge yet and really easy too. Here is the recipe if you want to try it and make a last-minute treat to share with family for Christmas. Enjoy! ~Carolyn

My Chocolate Fudge

Makes one 8”x8” pan

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup butter

1 cup evaporated milk

1/4 teaspoon espresso extract

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or any dark chocolate bar chopped into pieces

1 1/2 cups chopped marshmallows (3.5 ounces marshmallow fluff or about 1/2 a 7-ounce container)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar, butter, espresso, and milk in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture starts to boil. Cook for five minutes, mixing gently (so you don’t get sugar crystals up the sides of the pan) and watching to pot to make sure the fudge doesn’t boil over. In a large heatproof bowl, add chocolate, marshmallows, and vanilla. Pour the boiling milk mixture over the chips** without scraping the pan clean. Let it sit for 5 minutes to melt the chocolate. Mix just enough to combine the ingredients. Pour into a greased parchment-lined pan and quickly spread to the edges in a few strokes. Do not mess too much with fudge, or it will crystallize! Let cool. Cut and enjoy!

**It’s important not to scrape the pan clean with boiled milk and sugar. Any crystals in there can set off a chain reaction to hard instead of creamy fudge.