Homemade Creamed Fudge

AFTER I made the fudge this year, I realized that I should have taken pictures of each stage so you can see what it does and what it looks like....

For now, you will just have to figure that out by trial and error....
This takes some time and you can't rush the steps, especially the creaming part.
If you have questions, you can message me or leave a comment and I will do my best to answer them.

I have to actually give credit for this recipe to Mike Howell.... 

He taught me to make it many years ago and it has become part of our Christmas traditions ever since.
 Most years, I end up making it more than once because it disappears so quickly...

A word of warning though... once your family has experienced it,
 you will be FOREVER stuck making it this way.
You won't be able to go back to the marshmallow fudge or other

 "cook and pour into a pyrex pan" recipes!!!

I tried making a new recipe this year using candy bars and sweetened condensed milk.... 

I ended up with a mutiny over it....

BASIC CREAMED FUDGE

4 cups sugar

2 Tbsp white Karo

1cup cream or evaporated milk (cream is preferred)

¼ cup water

6 Tbsp butter (not margarine)

6 Tbsp cocoa

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts

Combine first six ingredients in a heavy bottomed 3 quart pan. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden paddle, until all ingredients are well blended. Continue stirring until it comes to a full boil. Wash down sides of the pan with hot water on a small pastry brush. Continue boiling until it reaches 240® on the candy thermometer, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and place the pan in a sink of ice water. Leave it alone until it is fully cooled (about room temperature). Place the pan briefly in a sink of hot water to loosen the candy from the pan. Then carefully remove the candy to a heavy duty mixer. (Kitchen-Aid or Bosch) **CAUTION** This process works the mixer hard and a mixer that is not a very heavy duty type may not do the job or may burn up.

Allow it to mix at low speed until it starts to cream – it will lighten and change consistency. (As an alternate to creaming in a mixer, if you have a marble slab, you can pour the hot candy directly from the stove to the prepared moist slab. Allow it to cool and then cream it by hand with a wooden or heavy paddle). Then, add the flavoring and nuts if desired. Remove the candy from the mixing bowl and place on clear plastic wrap. Wrap up the candy and knead it until it is well blended and the shape you want. After it is shaped make sure it is completely wrapped in the plastic. Allow it to cool overnight. All of the heat does not leave the batch until it is allowed to rest. That is what makes it really creamy. It will then keep at room temperature in the plastic wrap – probably longer than you can keep it around.

Alternate versions:

For white fudge, omit the cocoa. Otherwise follow the recipe. This is good alone or as the center for dipped chocolates using different flavors instead of vanilla – mint for mint crèmes, maple for maple crèmes, orange, etc. I usually mix the flavors and leave the candy in a kneaded mound, wrapped in plastic, overnight and then shape the balls and freeze them for dipping the next day or later.

For Penuche, substitute one or two cups of brown sugar for the same amount of white sugar and omit the cocoa. Otherwise follow the above recipe. It is good alone or at the center of pecan logs.

***HINTS***

The white fudge and penuche tend to be a little softer and keep well in the refrigerator, beginning the day after it has cooled naturally. If you find you have overcooked or undercooked the fudge and it is the wrong consistency or doesn’t cream right, or heaven forbid it sugars, just add some water and re-cook it and start over with the cooling and creaming process – provided you haven’t added nuts. In your final batch, experiment with additions, marshmallows & nuts for rocky road, raisins in chocolate, cashews are delicious in white fudge, pecans in penuche, etc.