Easy Chocolate Fudge

Let's eat chocolate because it's Friday. 

And Christmas!  Or whatever you celebrate!  Let's be honest, though, even if you don't celebrate Christmas you still hopefully get a day or two off work and chocolate is delicious so....YAY ANYWAY.  

I got a request from Jay's stepmother the other day to make some fudge for a work event she was having.  I don't have a go-to fudge recipe, but WHO DOESN'T LOVE THE STUFF, so to the interwebz I went!  I was on a serious time crunch and I'm not into weird tempering things, so I Googled Easy Fudge and this came up!  Super easy fudge from Real Mom Kitchen.  I've actually made the recipe twice this week, and as promised, this is Super Easy.  It works beautifully, takes minutes to prepare, and then you just let it chill and try not to eat it by the spoonful before it solidifies.  

Let's make it.  Right now.  Together as a family.  

You need two kinds of chocolate chips - pick your poison!  Even butterscotch or peanut butter would be legit in this recipe.  Then you need sweetened condensed milk (my grocery store inexplicably only carries this on the Mexican food aisle), vanilla, and butter.  SUPER EASY.  

Now, let's make these!  Measure dump the ingredients into a pan over medium-low heat.  I find that a large skillet or something with a wide bottom (heh) works well because the eat is more evenly distributed compared to a sauce pan where the bottom burns and the top is still solid chocolate chips.  BUT THAT'S JUST ME, so find some kind of pot or pan and dump everything in it.  

Now we stir!  Be patient here, kids, don't jack the heat up too high or you'll burn half the chocolate.  I tend to wander off when I'm cooking/photographing, so I had the heat over medium-low to offset any wandering I did.  Stir the chocolate almost constantly.  At first it looks janky!  Don't stress. 

While the chocolate is melting, in between stirring, prep an 8x8 pan or equivalent with parchment paper or wax paper or tin foil sprayed with cooking spray - parchment is my fav, but anything that'll help you remove the fudge later is fine. 

Keep stirring!  See how the chocolate slowly melts into the other ingredients.  We're getting there - this is about 5 minutes in.  This is why I like the wider pan - I think the mixture is easy to mix really well, kind of like you would risotto, to bring all the ingredients fully together. 

Nowwwwww we're talking.  Eventually, like magic, the chocolate will all combine with the butter and sweetened condensed milk and get glossy and smooth and just perfect. When it does that, pour the fudge into the prepared pan.  Smooth out the top as much as you can, or don't.  I kind of couldn't be bothered.  

Now, ugh, more waiting.  This shiz's gotta chill, yo.  2 hours says the recipe, but I'd vote for 4 or more - overnight uncovered in the fridge if you can manage it!  When you're ready to eat this or plate it or whatever, lift it out of the pan using the parchment, then flip it over and peel the parchment off.  A square of fudge!  Cut it into long strips.

Then cut the strips into cubes.  This 8x8 dish made a 6x6 grid - 36 bits of fudge!  

Now, I had only let this chill for 2 hours because my sunshine was leaving, so this is a tiny bit soft.  Another hour or so in the fridge would have really solidified the fudge, so don't skimp on the chilling time like I did.  

TASTE THIS.  You don't even know.  The butter and sweetened condensed milk makes for a really creamy fudge - not dry and crumbly like you get sometime.  

Thanks Laura, for this recipe!  It's securely in my "exactly how I make this every single time" arsenal for fudge.  

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