This is my favorite sweet treat that my mom makes. It is a Puerto Rican fudge that tastes unlike any other fudge you’ve had.
It’s not the easiest fudge recipe (or the quickest), but my mom’s recipe and I’ve never had better fudge.
The Best Homemade Chocolate Fudge Recipe
It’s not that this isn’t an easy fudge recipe. It’s just time-consuming… and for good reason. It’s one of the best fudge recipes you’ll eat.
Chocolate Fudge Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups of sugar
- 1 can of evaporated milk (1 ½ cups)
- 2 ½ cups of water
- 4 pieces of Baker’s unsweetened chocolate (1 ounce)
- 1 stick of butter at room temperature (salted butter or unsalted butter)
- 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
Chocolate Fudge Directions
- Combine all ingredients into a heavy saucepan, except for the butter and vanilla extract.
2. Stir with a wooden spoon regularly on medium heat to high heat, but do not let the liquid mixture boil too much. To avoid this, you need to stir occasionally.
3. Attach a candy thermometer to the pan. (You want this fudge to get to a soft-ball temperature before you “stir the heck out of it”, as she says. This occurs between 235 and 245 F. In addition to using a candy thermometer, this stage can be determined by dropping a spoonful of hot fudge into a bowl of very cold water.)
4. While this is heating up, spread butter on a plate. (You can also use parchment paper or wax paper.)
5. In 10 minutes, it’ll start to smell really good. It will start to thicken at about the 20-minute mark. That is when you add the butter.
6. Keep stirring it to avoid it from boiling out of the pan or sticking to the bottom of the pan.
7. At this point, it will take you around 10-15 more minutes. There is no need to move this to low heat. You need it to get warmer.
8. This next part is my favorite part. My mom pours some in spoons to try as it gets to the end of cooking.
It’ll start as a liquid in spoons, then as you continue to bake it, it will turn into creamy fudge. (I could eat the entire thing in spoons.)
9. When you can form a ball of fudge in cold water, the soft ball stage, or the candy thermometer is at least 235 degrees Fahrenheit for best results, remove the pan from the hot electric stove.
10. Add the vanilla extract and stir with the wooden spoon to get rid of the shine. This is the part where you “stir the heck out of it”. When it starts to get thick and feel heavy, keep stirring!
Still with me? It’s been about 45 minutes now and your arms have had quite the workout. Don’t worry. We’re almost done.
11. Pour the fudge into your buttered plate from the pan. (Don’t forget to eat the fudge with a creamy consistency left on the sides of the pan!)
12. Now, you can either scoop the soft fudge with a spoon or let the fudge harden and cut it into squares to enjoy. (I do both.)
We don’t save it in an airtight container. Just covering it with plastic wrap or aluminum foil while it sits on the plate is fine.
Feel free to add white chocolate chips, marshmallow cream, peanut butter for peanut butter fudge, peppermint extract for candy cane fudge, dark chocolate – whatever your sweet tooth wants!
For me, the perfect fudge has these simple ingredients listed above.
You can make this for special occasions, the holiday season, or any time of the year. This delicious fudge is good year-round and something my mom makes for me every time I see her.
Find me on Instagram at @ChristinaAllDay and let me know how this homemade fudge turned out.
