Hello, my friends! Ruthy here, "The Yank" and all of us up here in the cold, snowy North are wishin' all o' youse a very Merry Christmas!
A baby shepherd has been sighted! :) This is Finn, when he was one year old... He didn't quite make it into the Living Nativity picture. We decided he was a wandering shepherd... a nomad, mayhap?
I love fudge. I love stopping by places with signs bearing "FRESH FUDGE" because fudge-lovers know what that means: Old fudge just isn't as good.
So the trick with fudge (to me, anywho!!!) is to develop recipes that taste great... and keep tasting great!
This one is perfection. I used Maple Syrup with mine, but if you wanted a more "brown sugar" taste you could use molasses and just cut the amount in half because molasses is a much stronger flavor.
Basically I took the recipe from the small Fluff jar and played with it. Most often I find that if you have a good basic beginning, changing the elements might change the taste, but keep the quality. So that was the goal.
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
6 oz. evaporated milk (half a big can) Or if you're using a 5 oz can, add cream or whole milk to go to six ounces. That silly little extra ounce makes the fudge creamier and stay creamier longer.
4 TBSP (1/2 stick) butter
3/4 tsp. salt
1 jar Marshmallow Fluff
1/2 cup real Maple Syrup (or use 2 TBSP molasses instead)
1 12 oz bag white chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (if desired)
In large saucepan combine both sugars, milk, butter, salt, Fluff, syrup or molasses. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. (I like a medium-medium/high heat.) Don't worry if marshmallow gets golden... it's supposed to! Make sure you're stirring all edges of pan.
Cook to soft ball stage (235° to 238 ° on a candy thermometer)
To kick the thermometer to the curb, test fudge by drizzling a spoon full of fudge into a coffee cup half-filled with cold water. If the fudge schlurps together into a ball, but flattens when you remove it from cup, you're at "soft ball" stage! Go you!!!!
Add in the 12 oz of white chocolate chips and nuts if desired. Stir until all is melted together and pour into foil lined 13" x 9" pan. Cool completely before cutting.
This fudge is amazing. I keep it sealed in a cool room or in the freezer and it loses no quality even two weeks later.
Air "sugars" fudge, making it crusty and taste stale. Keep it sealed and cool.... and while refrigerators are great tools, if your kid leaves the fudge open in the fridge while helping themselves to a piece, then the fudge takes on the smell of the fridge...
So I usually keep it out of the fridge for my own sake because yes... I love fudge!!! This is two weeks later and as sweet and creamy as the day I made it...
And here's a little catch-up from the farm! Punch and cookies for the kids who call this home before and after school:
And remember the living room floor project? Well, here are the before and after shots!
And a holiday BOOK GIVEAWAY, my friends just like I did on Petticoats and Pistols! A copy of "A Cowboy Christmas", my duo with the amazing Linda Goodnight wants to come live with you OR a Kindle copy of "Christmas on the Frontier", three wonderful prairie Christmas romances. Because I do love romance, my friends!
Leave a comment about Christmas baking or candy-making and that will get your name into the Christmas Candy Dish!
Leave a comment about Christmas baking or candy-making and that will get your name into the Christmas Candy Dish!
Wishing you the merriest of Merry Christmases!
Leave a comment below (or if Blogger gives you a hard time, then leave a comment on my facebook page Ruth Logan Herne....) and we'll count it!
May God bless you... May the king of all that's good and holy shine upon you and yours and may your heart be healed from any sadness or grief... And may you feel God's love rain down upon you during this beautiful holy season... and all through 2017.
Multi-published, bestselling author Ruth Logan Herne has over a million books in print, and still pinches herself each day to make sure this is real... and it appears to be!
Visit her website ruthloganherne.com or friend her on facebook (Ruth Logan Herne) or CLICK HERE follow her on Bookbub She loves getting to know folks!
If I bake sweets during this time of the year it's usually sugar cookies.
ReplyDeleteI love sugar cookies!
DeleteI gotta have my sugar cookies.
DeleteI made sugar cookies yesterday with Finn and Lena. That was their preschool "math and science" lesson! :) SO GOOD!!!
DeleteWe usually go to Gatlinburg to see the lights and I always go to the candy kitchen for white chocolate pretzels. My mom was the fudge person in our family.
ReplyDeleteLinda - rayorr@bellsouth.net
Linda, we were up there right before Thanksgiving and I saw the candy kitchen!
DeleteGatlinburg is on my list of places to see on one of my Southern jaunts. I hear so many good things about it and I know I'm going to love it. That and Greenville SC.
DeleteI have been assured that I will love BOTH! :)
I used to make fudge and Christmas cookies. My daughter in law does it now. One time I made peanut butter fudge that never really set up. I used it as a filling between cookies and it was a hit.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to use the fudge that didn't set up, Jan! Peanut butter fudge is my favorite. Actually, peanut butter ANYTHING is my favorite. haha
DeleteJan, I've had that happen, too! And yes! Filling or ice cream topping.
DeleteSO GOOD!!!!
Oh, look at how little Finn is!! He's such a cutie!
ReplyDeleteThis looks amazing, but I don't dare make it! I'll eat it all myself. LOL
My trick is that I keep them all in the big freezer. That gives me time to say "DO YOU REALLY NEED THIS NOW???" on the way. And there are jars of nuts on the counter to help me not go bonkers for sugar, sugar and more sugar!
DeleteWell, Ruthy, the truth is I gave up candy making the day I made never-fail fudge and never-fail divinity the same day. The fudge set up so hard you could hardly break it with a hammer, and the divinity ran all over the place. I decided candy making was not my specialty. :-D Betty Crocker and I have made some fine cakes, and sometimes I switch it up and team up with Duncan.
ReplyDeleteMy sis makes the best Swiss bread ever, so I let her make it and give me a loaf. She usually complies. She's the best sis ever and she loves to cook and bake, so that works for me.
Oh, Winnie, I love this! I can totally see that happening and I don't blame you for walking away! :)
DeleteI started making fudge at age 11 and it was the old fashioned Hershey's fudge recipe on the cocoa can, and that's still a favorite!
It's quite different from the marshmallow fluff varieties.
This penuche or brown sugar variety was just calling my name... RUTHY!!! COME FIGURE OUT AN EASY WAY TO MAKE PENUCHE!
I had to answer.
WHAT IS SWISS BREAD????
Is it like the sweet bread I make and frost?
Now I must know, my friend!
No, it's not very sweet, although it has sugar and butter in it. We braid it and bake it in a loaf pan with a little egg yolk on the top to make it a bit shiny. We also make rolls from the dough by rolling a piece into a "snake" and tying it in a knot. My Swiss grandmother said they look like little birds. We also make cinnamon rolls from the dough.
DeleteI might have to break down and make Peanut Clusters in a Crockpot that Mindy posted a few days ago. What could go wrong, right???? LOL
Winnie, thank you so much for sending me the recipe! I'm going to have fun with it!!!! And I shared it with my Eichas cousins who are playing with Grandma Lena's recipes. She was a grand old gal!
DeleteRuthy, like you, I always have to check out "fresh fudge." Probably because I grew up in Michigan and often visited Mackinaw Island where fudge is king. Maple isn't one of my favorite flavors, though. Still, if you offered me a sample, I doubt I'd turn it down.
ReplyDeleteMindy, I hear you! When you're up north, in the hills or near the lakes, the words "FRESH FUDGE" are like a beacon!
DeleteCOME BUY ME!!!! :)
Although we had great fudge at Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville in November and met the candymaker... she was marvelous! And the fudge was great. Made right there, in an old chicken house. I LOVED THAT!!!! So fun to think of that, right?
So if you don't use maple syrup, use the molasses and then it just tastes like brown sugar or caramel fudge. No maple flavor.
Either way works, and did you notice the extra ounce notation???? Did you and I talk about that two years ago, because it does make a difference, so when you posted that a few days back, I laughed ... because that ounce is crucial to the smoothness.
WE ARE CRAZY WOMEN. But we make good fudge!!!
Ruthy, we may have talked about that extra ounce back then, because it was about three years ago that I figured it out. And now that I have, I'm so much happier.
DeleteWe must have, to have both targeted it... and it works! And you probably inspired me to alter this because you found the recipe card... so thank you!!!!
DeleteI would never, ever turn down fudge and I appreciate your recipe. I am late with my baking this year but I plan to make Blackberry Jam Cakes next week. My mom always made a cake for both my brother and me and another to have for her Christmas. 2017 was our first Christmas without her so I made one for my brother and one for my family. I plan to continue this tradition.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!
Connie, that's so sweet that you're carrying on her tradition. Jam cake sounds really good!
DeleteConnie! What is a blackberry jam cake? Yellow cake filled with jam??? You must tell us more, sweet thing!
DeleteI love to bake cookies during the holiday season.
ReplyDeleteI also love fudge, but have never tried to make it myself. One of my best friends has a great recipe and usually brings me a plate during the holiday, but she had back surgery last week so I should probably be taking her something!
Patty, I agree. Take her something, LOL! The marshmallow fluff fudge recipes are really pretty easy... but if cookies are your forte, I say take her cookies. What a nice gesture that would be, and I'm so glad you stopped over today! Tucking your name into the candy dish!
DeleteI use my mom's fudge recipe which sounds like yours Ruthy except no bake syrup .. semi sweet chocolate chips. I also use her cutout cookie recipe. But I do have my own little guilty pleasure. I love making chocolates. Cream filled...coconut..fudge..fruit flavored..nuts..peanut butter..butterscotch..etc. I breathe chocolate.
ReplyDeleteKathy Muller, how fun that you stopped over here! Isn't it a great place to visit???? :)
DeleteI had no idea you like making candies/chocolates. Oh, what a marvelous trait/trick. Good for you! That's so good to know, Kathy! And I'm tucking your name in, too... Thanks for coming over!
My mom and I used to bake and sell cookies. It all ended in 2001 but we had so much fun! One of my favorites is her peanut butter fudge! I also loved my great uncle’s chocolate peanut butter fudge. He didn’t leave the recipe but I’m still trying to figure it out! Ruthy, I cannot wait to make your Paneuch!
ReplyDeleteKathy, we sell cookies during the farm season and they are so popular! And it makes people happy to buy cookies and whoopie pies and sweet breads and carrot cakes. They love the bakery side of the farm, so that makes us happy and keeps us running for two months!
DeleteSo did your uncle mix the peanut butter into the fudge OR did he layer it?
I'm asking because the Hershey's original Cocoa fudge recipe is marvelous with 3/4 cup of peanut butter swirled in at the very end, when you're letting the fudge mixture cool.
It cools quickly when you add the peanut butter, so you have to have the pan ready... but it's decadent.
I've done peanut butter/chocolate layered fudges, too, but that texture is quite different from the old-fashioned peanut butter swirled into Hershey's fudge version.
It's amazing how things can be tweaked, isn't it?