Dad's Favourite Fudge :)

Back when we lived in Texas, I borrowed this book from the San Antonio Public Library (Enchilada Red, was it called?) about a little girl in a restaurant, and in the back there was a recipe for really simple fudge. My dad loved that fudge, and must have asked me to make it a dozen times or so when I was like, 12. I finally found the recipe again, though I cannot remember for the life of me what in the world that book was titled. So anyway, here is the recipe, just for my dad, and just in time for Christmas.

How to make Super Easy Fudge: for Dad



Firstly, go ahead and butter a 9x9 pan

then line it with parchment paper and butter it again. The initial buttering helps the paper stick to the pan, and keeps it from creasing or tearing, and the second buttering helps the paper peel off the fudge easily, leaving it smooth and pretty.

In a metal bowl set over a pan of gently boiling water (or in a microwave safe bowl, if you are in a hurry or don't like stoves or don't have a metal bowl and a pan of water) dump a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

add one can of sweetened condensed milk
(mmmm doesn't that look nice?)
and about a teaspoon of salt
and a teaspoon of vanilla and mix it all together.
Eventually, it will all melt. Whip it with your spatula to make sure that all of the lumps and chunks have dissipated - there are fewer things more disconcerting than biting in to a piece of fudge that has a big lump of salt right in the middle.
Spread the mixture into your buttered, papered pan and refrigerate for a good two hours. Remove the fudge by gently pulling the paper out of the pan, flipping the fudge over onto a cutting board and peeling the paper off of the bottom (now top, once you've flipped it). I prefer to cut it with a pizza cutter, and it is super rich, so the squares can be pretty small.

I don't have a picture of the finished bits, because they quickly disappeared into the goodie bags that we passed out to our friends and teachers this year :)

You can also feel free to add (as I sometimes do) a teaspoon or so of one of the following: almond extract, cherry extract, peppermint extract, fleur de sel or finishing salt, or amaretto.

So dad, I hope you have the opportunity to make fudge this year! I love you!