This week, according to a friend, it is National Fudge Week; that rich and creamy confectionery that so many of us love. If you didn’t know it, fudge is easy and quick to make. The following recipes are just a few that display how simple it is to try at home.
Nutty Fudge
1 1/2 Sticks butter
1/3 c Evaporated milk
1/4 c Sugar
1 c Milk chocolate
1 c Semi-sweet chocolate
1 c Marshmallow cream
1 c Peanut butter chips
1/2 c Chopped peanuts
Blend butter, milk and sugar in a med. saucepan. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Add both chocolates and the marshmallow and blend. Let cool. Then add the peanut butter chips and peanuts. Place in a buttered and foil lined pan. Chill at least 1 hour and serve.

Peanut Butter Fudge
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
1 1/3 cups peanut butter
Boil milk and sugar in a medium saucepan for three minutes over medium-high heat. Immediately stir in the marshmallow crème and peanut butter. Pour and spread into a 9×9 inch glass baking dish. Cool completely before cutting into squares and serving.

If reading seems just too difficult or you are not sure how to begin, you can watch a gourmet version on video at 5min.com.

If you are like our family, you may want to try a sugar free option. Less sugar is better for the kids or anyone in with dietary issues.

Sugar Free Fudge
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares
16 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup Splenda or any other sugar substitute.
To start with the preparation, first take a 8×8 baking pan and grease it. Now, melt the unsweetened chocolate squares in a small pot. Then, get a small mixing bowl and beat the cream cheese in it. Now, add the already melted chocolate in it. Then add in the sweetener like Splenda or any sugar substitute and the vanilla and beat until the texture of mixture becomes homogeneous and smooth.

Once the mixture is smooth, add in the chopped walnuts. Now, pour this mixture into the baking pan, allow it to settle and cover it. Keep the baking pan in refrigerate overnight to get your desired sugar free fudge. Cut it into 1″ square. So simple!

No Sugar Fudge
1/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons sugar replacement
2 graham cracker square, finely crushed
1 tablespoon non-fat dry milk
1 tablespoon raisins, chopped
Heat chocolate, applesauce and diet sugar to boiling in small saucepan. Boil for 2-3 minutes to thicken, stir constantly. Remove from heat. Combine graham cracker crumbs, non-fat dry milk and raisins. Add chocolate mixture; mix well. Place on wax paper and shape into two 2 x 2 x 1/2 inch squares or form into a square that is half an inch thick. Chill and serve directly from refrigerator.

If making fudge this week is just not in the cards or it is too much hassle to find the baking supplies that have migrated to the back of the pantry, here are a few sites offering traditional and sugar free fudge you can order and have delivered right to your door.

Traditional Fudge

Sugar Free Fudge

For no particular reason you may want to indulge in this obscure holiday, or you may tuck this info away and save it for closer to those holidays that warrant treats and snacks, not now, a few weeks before shorts and bathing suits are about to be worn.
Standing on my Soapbox,

JB

Fudge History

Before 1886, the origin and history of fudge is unclear, but Fudge is thought to be an American invention. Most believe the first batch was a result of a accidental “fudged” batch of caramels, hence the name “fudge”.

In 1886, fudge was sold at a local Baltimore grocery store for 40 cents a pound. This is the first known sale of fudge. A letter, found in the archives of Vasser College, written by Emelyn Battersby Hartridge reveals that Emelyn wrote that her schoolmate’s cousin made fudge in 1886 in Baltimore and sold it for 40 cents a pound.

In 1888, Miss Hartridge asked for the fudge recipe, and made 30 pounds of fudge for the Vassar Senior Auction. The recipe was very popular at the school from that point forward. Fudge became a new confection after word spread to other women’s colleges of the tasty delight. Later, Smith and Wellesley schools each developed their own recipe for fudge.