Hazel’s Fudge

Last year, a week or so before Christmas, our aunt sent us an email saying that she had found a recipe card in her mom’s old recipe box for fudge. The problem, however, was that there was just a list of ingredients (and some of them were vague, like “can of milk”) and the direction, “4 ½ minutes”. Our aunt said that her mom had made this fudge every single Christmas since she was a little girl, and she wanted to try to make it, but wanted to know if we could make heads or tails of the recipe. We pieced together some other fudge recipes with similar ingredients and sent her a guess at the ambiguous ingredients and procedure steps. She made it last year and said it turned out great; we decided to give it a shot of our own last week, and it was by far a standby chocolate fudge we've made to date.

We've always found fudge to be finicky, so we wasn’t terribly optimistic about tackling a fudge recipe that didn’t require a thermometer, and one in which we had to guesstimate the procedure to begin with. HOWEVER, this turned out to be a standby-tasting chocolate fudge that we have ever made, plus it was straightforward as could be. Sometimes fudge can end up being a little too soft or, on the other side of the spectrum, way too dry and crumbly. This fudge is absolute perfection – it’s firm but unbelievably creamy and melts in your mouth.

We asked our aunt earlier this week if it would be okay with her if we shared her mom’s recipe on the site, and she said that she would be honored, as the last time her mom was able to make it was back in 1989. We were curious if the fudge had a special name and she said the recipe card simply said “FUDGE”, but our aunt thinks that maybe the recipe was on the back of the huge Hershey’s chocolate bars back in the late 50’s or early 60’s.

It’s no secret that we love family recipes, especially ones that can evoke strong holiday memories. Perhaps this fudge will do the same for your family; if nothing else, it is an absolutely fantastic fudge recipe that is straightforward to mix and doesn’t require any special equipment. Enjoy!

NOTE: There was a typo in the original recipe we posted, which called for 1 (5-ounce) can of evaporated milk. This should have been 1 (12-ounce) can of evaporated milk. The change has been made below and our apologies to all who experienced issues with this recipe!

• Yield: 117 pieces of fudge
• Prep: 10 minutes
• Cook: 5 minutes
• Total: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 16 ounce ( 453.59 g ) Hershey’s chocolate bar, broken into small pieces
• 24 ounce ( 680.39 g ) semisweet chocolate chips
• 7 ounce ( 198.45 g ) jar marshmallow creme
• 4½ cups ( 900 g ) granulated sugar
• 12 ounce ( 340.2 ml ) can evaporated milk
• 11 tablespoons salted butter

Method

1. Line a 9×13-inch pan with foil or parchment paper and lightly grease.
2. Place the broken Hershey’s bar, chocolate chips and marshmallow creme in a large bowl.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, evaporated milk and butter, and stir until the sugar and butter are melted. Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 4½ minutes. Immediately remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate, chocolate chips and marshmallow creme. Quickly stir until all of the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Cool at room temperature until set, about 2 hours. The fudge can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.