Grandma Louise’s Fudge

This fudge recipe is SUPER rich and delicious – very sinful. It’s VERY easy to make and makes a great holiday gift. My dad is absolutely powerless to resist this stuff. It was his mother’s recipe, but she passed away 11 years ago, so I make it for him every once in a while now. It can be frozen for surprisingly periods of time without much ill effect. This should not be made on a rainy or very humid day – it won’t “set” properly.

I made this batch without nuts, at the special request of Girl, who is not a fan of most nuts. The nuts are optional, but it’s really much better with pecans in it. If you do add the nuts, though, make SOME effort to secure decent ones – the Planters in the bag from the supermarket will absolutely NOT do. Get good ones, even if you have to special-order them. There are lots of things that I do NOT like about living in Texas, but one of the good things is that we are able to secure really good pecans. My grandparents (on my mom’s side) are my “suppliers” and always seem to know a great local source. Thanks, Granny and Pappaw! I love you!

Grandma Louise’s Fudge

1/3 cup butter
1 can evaporated milk
(The original recipe says a 14 1/2 ounce can, but they don’t make those anymore, so I just use one 12 ounce can, plus a couple of ounces from another can to make 14 1/2 ounces. Any milk that you have left over is really yummy whisked into scrambled eggs before cooking – about 1 Tbsp. per egg.)
1 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
4 1/2 cups sugar
13 ounces German’s brand sweet baking (green box) chocolate
(Again, 13 ounces is an odd amount. That’s 3 boxes, plus one or two extra squares. The recipe would probable be fine if you just used 12 ounces, but I haven’t tried it myself.)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups chopped pecans (optional, but recommended)
1 cup marshmallow cream (in a jar)

Butter a 13 X 9 inch (preferably glass) baking pan. Combine sugar, salt, butter and milk in a large pan sauce pan. Bring to a boil over low to medium heat and boil for 5 1/2 minutes, adjusting heat if necessary, to keep mixture from scorching. Remove from heat and add all other ingredients, except nuts. Beat/stir until well mixed. Stir in nuts, if desired. Pour into buttered pan. Let cool until solid, then cut into small square (about 1 1/2 inches on a side) pieces. Can be microwaved for a short time in a small container (coffee cup?) until melted to use for hot fudge ice cream sauce, if desired. Mmmmm……