Christmas Fudge

When I was growing up, along with a tree, a Christmas staple was my grandmother’s chocolate fudge. It was the perfect drop fudge. It had a slightly hard outer layer, but as soon as you bit down it melted in your mouth rich and creamy.

Back in the 60s she sold her fudge at Callies Candy Kitchen in Bangor, Pennsylvania. A pound sold for one dollar and she took home 80 cents. Slowly, she saved up enough money to reach her goal – a family portrait of her five children.

When she sold her house on the Bunny Trail and moved into a retirement community, she also retired from making her fudge. This Christmas I decided it was time to re-new the tradition. I asked her to help me make a batch. First she laughed and told me I’d be wasting my time. She didn’t think I had fudge makin’ in me. Then she laughed again and agreed to help, but still insisted we’d be wasting our time. It’s an easy recipe but the execution is difficult. Many have tried and failed to copy this confection.

The following morning I went to the store in search of Baker’s Chocolate and wax paper. I found them and our experiment began.

Ingredients:
1.5 C sugar
1.5 squares Baker’s Chocolate
½ C water
½ tsp vanilla
1 pat of butter
One heavy saucepan
This will make about a one pound batch

The saucepan is key. You want to make sure it has a thick bottom, otherwise the fudge will die.

Put the sugar and water in the pan. You can combine them gently, but don’t stir or it will cause the fudge to become too sugary. Put in the chocolate and turn on the burner. Bring the mixture to a boil.

Turn it down to a simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes, we simmered for more like 20-25 minutes.

Make sure during simmering that you DO NOT STIR. If it seems the sugar needs to be incorporated more, gently drag a fork through the mixture. But never, ever, stir.

Now it is time for the “soft ball” test. (At this point my mother chimed in that she had learned all about soft balls in college...eh, what? She was a home ec major.) Take a cup of cold water and place a small amount of the chocolate in the cup. If the chocolate forms into a “soft ball” when it hits the water, you’ve reached the correct consistency.

Take the fudge off the stove. Add the vanilla along with a pat of butter. Let it cool a bit. Now start STIRING. You may have to stir for about 10 minutes. You want a slightly thick, creamy consistency.

Now it’s time to drop the fudge on to the wax paper. Take a spoon and simply push off a piece about the size of a silver dollar. If the fudge gets too thick during this, add a bit of warm water and stir some more.

Once you’ve covered the wax paper in fudge, place it outside to cool. I used the garage. We left it outside for about 20-30 minute then flipped the fudge over and left it outside for another 20 minutes.

Now you’re fudge should be ready to serve!

We ate ours with Christmas Eve dinner. To our surprise, it tasted just like the fudge from years past. Now my grandmother isn’t laughing anymore. Instead, she’s reminding me that if I go on to open a fudge shop it is called “Nana’s Fudge.”