Grandma’s Homemade Fudge–The BEST!
I remember countless Christmas’ sitting around the kitchen counter helping my mom make my Great Grandma Clarke’s homemade fudge. It is so heavenly and I think one of my favorite treats of the season. I wanted to make sure to share the recipe with you. Since it’s an old homemade fudge recipe, it does take some time. But believe me, every second is worth it!
Place your sugar and cocoa in a heavy pan. Add in the cream, butter, and vanilla.
Bring it to a boil. Place candy thermometer in pan and cook until temperature reaches 238 degrees F(114 degrees C). Don’t scrape the sides of the pan while you are making this recipe. The sugar on the sides of the pan will cause the whole batch to crystallize and have a grainy texture. You can wash down the sides of the pan using a pastry brush and some water. Just brush the water on the sides of the pan. Not a lot of water, just enough to wash the sides.
You can tell when the fudge has reached soft ball stage by adding a drop of the mixture in a bowl of cold water and it forms a soft ball. Feel the ball with your fingers to make sure it is the right consistency. It should flatten when pressed between your fingers.
Remove from heat and pour onto a cold marble slab and let it cool.
It will look like the above picture. At this point you could add nuts, or anything else you might want in your fudge.
Once it has cooled some, you will mix it using a wooden spoon.
Move the sides in and work some air through the fudge. It will start to lose it’s shine and sheen. Keep working it quickly until it loose the gloss.
Butter your hands and fingers and roll the fudge into logs, or you can place it into a buttered dish/pan.
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cocoa
- 1 cup cream or canned milk
- 2 Tablespoons White Corn Syrup
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- In heavy pan mix together the sugar and cocoa. Add in the cream, corn syrup, butter and vanilla. Make sure you don't scrap the sides of the pan as this will make the whole batch crystalize. Cook to softball stage on candy thermometer, or until a small amount is dropped into a bowl of cold water and maintains a "soft ball" form.
- Remove pan from heat and pour the fudge mixture onto a marble slab to cool some.
- Using a wooden spoon, mix until fudge loses the glossy sheen. Once the gloss is gone, butter your hands and roll into logs and wrap in plastic wrap to keep. Or butter a dish or pan and place the fudge in there and slice into squares for serving.
Wow, can’t believe you had time to share this family favorite during the busiest time of the year. Thanks so much for sharing, it is first on my TO DO list! Looking forward to the yumminess, Becky.
This looks delicious! I have yet to make fudge, but think it’s time to add it to my repertoire.
How much corn syrup do you use? It isn’t listed in the ingredients.
Sorry. It’s 2 tablespoons. Updated now.
Thanks!
In the instructions it says to add the corn syrup, but it is not listed in the ingredients.
Ah, so sorry! It’s 2 tablespoons and I’ll add it.
Thanks!
I don’t have a marble slab. Can you recommend an alternative?
This looks delicious, Becky! Who doesn’t love homemade fudge?? 🙂
I was looking for a fudge recipe that looks and has the same ingredients as my Grandfathers. I see this and your picture looks similar to how his looked. I was wondering where the actual ingredient list was I didn’t see it.
Thanks
Thanks I am looking forward to making this. Could I substitute a cold cookie sheet from the deep freezer instead of the cold marble slab?
I will try this soon. Just wondering you said can use can milk but didn;t say what kind. I will try it with cream though but in the winter if I don’t have fresh cream the can milk would be Ok for my family. Thanks