teacherbailey

My mom made great fudge when we were kids in the 60's. Her recipe called for cocoa powder, sugar, milk, butter and vanilla extract. I can't find the exact recipe that I know she used but I found one in a 1954 cookbook that was very similar, and was excited to make it yesterday. Well.....it turned out so grainy that it's gritty with sugar. The recipe had a couple of murky spots....like "let cool slightly" and "beat until creamy". I'm betting the cooks of the day knew how long that "slightly" is, and how "creamy" it needed to be before you stop beating. Can anybody help? I have my own "go to" fudge recipe (the one off the jar of marshmallow crème) so I'm not looking for a good recipe, just trying to get mom's fudge to come out like hers did. Thanks for any advice or help you can give me!

slbram17

This may be similar to your recipe with a little more detail...

2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine cocoa, sugar and salt in a 3-quart saucepan. Add milk gradually, stirring until smooth.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir and boil until temperature reaches 232F on a candy thermometer, or until a small amount of the mixture forms a soft ball in cold water.

Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla; do not stir.

Cool to 110F, then beat until fudge thickens and loses some of its gloss.

Spread in a buttered 8x8-inch pan. When set, cut into squares.

Barb in Louisiana

We always followed the same recipe silbram 17 posted but we added a couple of Tablespoons of white syrup (Karo was all we had for years) to the recipe before cooking started.

Some key things I remember. If you mix the cocoa powder with the sugar, then add the milk, your cocoa will mix up better. Add the Karo after the milk is stirred in. Try not to stir the mixture after it comes to a boil, unless you have to. Stirring while the mixture is cooking or starting to beat the fudge before it cools down enough, will make it grainy. It's all about patience. If you are adding nuts to the recipe, add them right at the last of beating. Any earlier will give your beating arm a workout.

fyi....the recipe we used was from the Hershey Cocoa box except that we only used 1/2 cup of cocoa. We all like milk chocolate better than dark chocolate. http://www.ehow.com/how_2205012_hers...ate-fudge.html

barny

My Mother had the recipe, but she used canned milk, and 1WHOLE STICK OF BUTTER. I used to be good at making it, but, not anymore. I just can't get it to get firm. You could wrap it around a bldg. LOL The recipe was like yours. Barny

tessagin

I envy people who can make fudge. I've never been able to.

kristijoy

'Real' fudge requires a candy thermometer and if it's not calibrated correctly it won't work properly. I discovered the hard way that my thermometer was off, so it didn't set properly. The 'cheater' recipes using sweetened condensed milk or marshmallow crème don't require the specifics of candy making so are a little easier to pull off!

To 'calibrate' your candy thermometer, I would see what it reads when you put it into a pan of boiling water (Make sure the water is boiling good). Does it read 212? If not then you'll need to adjust accordingly. My thermometer read about 5 degrees low, so when I thought it was coming to temp it wasn't. I had to wait until it read 5 degrees higher (then subtract 5 degrees) and it was the proper temp. In the long run, I bought a new thermometer...

Onebyone

Your mom's recipe seems to be the one that use to be on the back of the Hershey Cocoa can. I watched my grandmother make it many many times. Never scrap the sides of the pan when stirring is all I remember.

Dollyo

I just made 2 perfect batches of fudge to send to my son (Air Force) based somewhere in the Middle East. I do use whipping cream.

According to the recipe "A good basic chocolate fudge. The use of whipping cream or nondairy cream substitute makes stirring unnecessary. This makes a very creamy fudge."

3 cups sugar
2/3 cups cocoa (I use Hershey's Special Dark)
1/8 tsp salt
3 Tbl white Karo syrup
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (or non-dairy liquid cream substitute)
4 Tbl butter
1 tsp vanilla

Combine cocoa, sugar, salt, and heavy cream in a large saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil; then reduce heat to medium and cook to 234 degrees without stirring. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Do not stir. Cool to lukewarm (about 110 degrees). Beat by hand or with mixer until fudge thickens and loses some of its gloss. Quickly spread fudge in lightly buttered 8-inch square pan. When cool, cut into squares. Makes about 64 pieces.

I don't use a candy thermometer. I use the soft ball test, using cold water and a drizzle of hot fudge. I don't beat it, I just stir the melted butter in and pour into the pan.

Jodi's Sew Happy

Be careful not to get any sugar crystals on the side of the pan. Way back in the day...JR high science we did an experiment where you dissolved sugar in water heated it. Then added sugar crystals to see how any it would take to make it turn into a solid. It took very few. So I stir carefully and occasionally have put a lid on to melt the sugar off the side of the pan. Happy creamy fudge making

Quilty-Louise

I had a cousin who made wonderful fudge. She ALWAYS said that
if she made her fudge on a cloudy/rainy day that it would never
turn out creamy. When she made it on a clear sunny day it was
perfect.

Don't ask me how the weather playing into that line of cooking fudge,
but it was a method she swore by for 40+ years and it worked for her.

The only fudge I had ever made was on the the back of the marshmellow
jar, so I am by far the LEAST experienced fudge maker.