Best Fudge EVAR with Recipe

My friend Alice has been posting her recipes on dA for some time, and I've decided it was time to share some of my special recipes too! (And yes, Lady Alice says it's just fine to copy her clever idea! ) Credit for the beautiful photo and processing goes to my dear hubby .

I admit I used to be a bit secretive about my holiday recipes, but I've since decided that's silly. I've heard too many stories of stubborn cooks taking their recipes to the grave with them, and that's pointless. Good food is for sharing, after all! So I'm going to share with you all, my dA family.

This is the recipe I've been most reluctant to share over the years. Everyone who has had my fudge has just raved about it, which of course makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. But there's a bit of fudge snobbery out there. Some people will insist that fudge simply can't be good unless it's a long drawn out affair with cocoa powder and a candy thermometer and a lot of sweat and tears. I dare them to try my mom's fudge and not love it, in all its marshmallow and chocolate chip glory.

Mom's Easy Fudge

3 1/2 cups white sugar
1 - 12 ounce can EVAPORATED milk
4 tablespoons butter
Pinch of salt (omit if you use salted butter like I always do)
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 cups miniature marshmallows
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Double line a 9' x 13' x 2' pan (your standard cake pan) with wax paper - one sheet of wax paper cut to fit lengthways, one sheet cut to fit crossways, both with endflaps extending over the edge of the pan (you'll use those later as handles to get the fudge out of the pan).

Mix the sugar, evaporated milk, and butter in a big deep kettle and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. This will take a few minutes, and you'll be tempted to crank the heat up. DON'T! While you're waiting for boilage, take a break between stirring to get your chocolate chips and marshmallows measured out into a big bowl and ready to go - when the time comes, you need to dump them all in at once.

Once you have a full rolling boil - the entire surface of the pan bubbling and frothing and making tons of noise - keep it at that boil for 5 minutes exactly (use the timer on your microwave to help keep track!), stirring frequently, if not constantly. When those 5 minutes are up, remove the kettle from the heat and dump in all your chocolate chips and marshmallows. Give this a couple stirs, then add the vanilla (it might sputter at you - that's the alcohol burning off - it's all good!). Stir the heck out of it until all the chips and marshmallows are melted. (If you like chopped nuts or coconut in your fudge, add about a cup of it now and stir in.) Pour it into your lined pan (it's going to start setting up pretty quickly, so move fast!) and shake the pan to spread the fudge out evenly.

Put the pan in the fridge (or in a cold garage) to cool off. Leave it alone until the fudge is cold and completely set. Lift the brick of fudge out of the pan using the wax paper handles. Cut the fudge into pieces and store in the fridge in an airtight container. This makes a ton of fudge - I got about 160 pieces out of it. If that's too much fudge for you (!) you can cut the recipe in half.