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Old Fashioned Chocolate Fudge

ByRosemary Molloy
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Old Fashioned Chocolate Fudge, this is the best, creamiest chocolate fudge, made the old fashioned way! And only 6 ingredients. The perfect Homemade Chocolate Candy, one everyone will love.

Fudge pieces on parchment paper.


 

I have been a big Candy lover for a long time, especially anything Chocolate such as these Easy Homemade Filled Chocolates or these Italian Chocolate Kisses / Baci.

Old Fashioned Chocolate Fudge is everything a homemade fudge should be, so get your candy thermometer ready.

I have been searching and searching for the chocolate fudge that I had tasted when I was about 8 or 10 years old, if you can believe that! This fudge melted in your mouth and was just a little bit crumbly.

I can remember going to the Christmas Bazaar at the Church on Saturday afternoon with a couple of my school friends. I bought my dime bag of chocolate fudge and I still remember thinking “this is the best Fudge I have ever eaten”.

And when we went back to get another bag, the lady was sold out. A sad day for me!

I think in my quest for “the One”  I tasted fudge from any and all chocolate stores. And unfortunately they were all the creamy types usually made with sweetened condensed milk, just like my Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge or this Easy Walnut Fudge I wanted that crumbly melt in your mouth fudge!

Fast forward to a few weeks ago and I decided I would google until I discovered my Chocolate Fudge. And discover I did, thanks to Hershey’s, apparently it is their Recipe that gives you that divine fudge.

fudge leaning against another.

Recipe Ingredients

  • Sugar – granulated
  • Cocoa powder – unsweetened dutch processed
  • Salt
  • Milk – whole/heavy milk
  • Butter – I use salted – room temperature

How to make Chocolate Fudge

Line a square pan with buttered parchment paper. In a medium heavy saucepan stir together the sugar, cocoa and salt, then add the milk and stir with a wooden spoon (not a whisk or metal spoon).

Cook over medium heat stirring continuously until mixture starts to boil, a strong boil. Turn heat to low medium and continue to cook without stirring until the correct temperature is reached.

2 photos of making chocolate fudge, the mixture before boiled and when boiling

Remove the pot from the heat, add the butter and vanilla. Do not stir. Cool to room temperature. Then beat with a wooden spoon just until mixture begins to lose some of it’s gloss.Spread the fudge quickly in the prepared baking dish and let cool completely, even overnight (at room temperature). Cut it into squares.

Adjusting the Fudge Recipe for High Altitude

To adjust the temperature to your altitude, deduct two degrees from the temperature required for every one thousand feet of altitude above sea level. For example, in this Fudge recipe, if you live 5,000 feet above sea level, you would deduct 10 degrees from 234 degrees.

How to Store Homemade Chocolate Fudge

Wrap the cut pieces in parchment paper or aluminum foil and store in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag. Fudged stored at room temperature can last from 7 – 14 days.

Fudge can also be stored in the refrigerator wrapped and placed in an airtight container. In the fridge fudge will last 2 – 3 weeks.

How to freeze it

Freeze the fudge in a double bag, well wrapped. You can freeze it either in pieces or the whole slab. Fudge will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer.

pieces of chocolate fudge.

What to make with fudge

If by chance you have some leftover fudge or for some reason your fudge doesn’t turn out, don’t despair and certainly don’t throw it out! Cut up some fudge add it to some hot milk and stir until smooth and there you have some amazing hot chocolate, maybe the best you have ever had?

Or melt some of the fudge, either in the microwave or over a pot of boiling water and drizzle it over some ice cream or as a ganache on a cake. Hot fudge sauce never tasted so good.

Fudge makes a wonderful gift idea. Wrap it with some transparent wrapping and tie with a bow, or place on a decorative plate or how about place a stick in the middle and make fudge pops!

Can I add Nuts or Peanut Butter

Yes you can add nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, peanut butter, mini marshmallows, dried cranberries or even broken candy canes. The best time to add these ingredients is when you add the butter and vanilla. I would also recommend roasting the nuts first to give the best flavor to your fudge.

If you prefer peppermint fudge then substitute the vanilla extract with peppermint extract or even almond or orange.

How to roast nuts

Place nuts in a single layer on an ungreased baking / cookie sheet. Bake in a pre-heated 350F/180C oven for 5 to 8 minutes or until they are golden brown, remove immediately from the pan to a clean bowl to cool.

Candy on parchment paper.

How to keep your fudge from being gritty or grainy

  • Make sure the sugar has dissolved.
  • It could be the fudge wasn’t beaten long enough or hard enough.

Does the weather affect fudge?

Yes it does, on a humid day, once the candy has cooled it may start to absorb moisture from the air, so on a humid day the candy will end up being softer than it is supposed to be.

Therefore it is always better to make candy (fudge) on dry sunny days. Although if you have no choice and you must make it on a humid day, then cook it to the highest recommended temperature, which is 237-240F / 114 – 115C.

Cool weather also helps the candy cool faster that way it has a lesser chance of forming crystals.

Why is my fudge soft?

Most of the time the reason is because your fudge has not reached the right temperature, it is very important to use a good candy thermometer for this.

I hope you enjoy this Homemade Chocolate Fudge! And let me know how you like it. Enjoy!

A piece of chocolate fudge.

More Chocolate Candy Recipes

A piece of chocolate fudge.

Old Fashioned Chocolate Fudge

Rosemary Molloy
Old Fashioned Chocolate Fudge, creamy and slightly crumbly this melt in your mouth homemade fudge is the best. 
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Cooling Time 8 hours
Total Time 9 hours 15 minutes
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 20 pieces
Calories 154 kcal
Print Recipe

Ingredients
 
 

  • 3 cups granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cup cocoa (unsweetened dutch processed)
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1/4 cup butter* (I use salted) (room temperature)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

*if you use unsalted butter then increase the salt to 1/4 teaspoon.

Instructions
 

  • Line an 8 inch square pan with buttered parchment paper.
  • In a medium heavy saucepan stir together sugar, cocoa and salt, then add the milk and stir with a wooden spoon (not a whisk or metal spoon).
  • Cook over medium heat stirring continuously until mixture starts to boil (a strong boil), approximately 15 minutes.
  • Turn heat to low medium and continue to cook without stirring until temperature reaches 234 °F (112C)  Approximately 30 minutes.
  • Remove pot from heat, add the butter and vanilla.  Do not stir.  Cool to room temperature (110°F/43C), approximately 30 minutes.  Then beat with a wooden spoon just until mixture begins to lose some of it's gloss (approximately 6-8 minutes).
  • Then spread quickly in prepared cake pan and let cool completely, even overnight (at room temperature).   Cut into squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
  • You can also freeze the fudge in a double bag, well wrapped.  Freeze either in pieces or the whole slab.  Can be frozen up to 3 months.  Keeps in an airtight container for approximately 2 weeks or in the fridge for 3-4 weeks.  Enjoy!

Notes

To store the fudge, wrap the cut pieces in parchment paper and store in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag. Fudged stored at room temperature can last from 7 – 14 days.
Fudge can also be stored in the refrigerator wrapped and placed in an airtight container. In the fridge fudge will last 2 – 3 weeks.
To freeze it – freeze the fudge in a double bag, well wrapped.  Freeze either in pieces or the whole slab.  It can be frozen for up to 3 months. 
For High Altitude – to adjust the temperature to your altitude, deduct two degrees from the temperature required for every one thousand feet of altitude above sea level. For example, in the recipe that follows, if you live 5,000 feet above sea level, you would deduct 10 degrees from 234 degrees. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-01-28-8803260034-story.html 
Helpful tips
“Rub the sides of the sauce pan you’ll be using with butter. Apparently if one grain of uncooked sugar gets in with the sugar mixture, it will turn the cooked sugar back into grandular sugar, and make it grainy again. The butter will melt as the pan gets hot, causing the sugar to slide into the pan. I’ve used butter to rub the sides of my pan for years. Also never scrape the sides of your pan while cooking. This really works. The fudge comes out as a very smooth texture”.  Rhonda
“Absolutely loved making this. I doubled the batch and the temp took a little over an hour to get there. Adjusting the temp to almost a medium on our ultra heat burner. Then I placed my pot by a cracked window to allow the cold air to help cool it down to 110. When it’s only 9° out this helped! Added almond slices and coconut flakes”. – Krista
“I use to always use this Hershey recipe, but it’s has been years since I’ve made fudge. Tried a batch this weekend and it reminded me of how I used to fix the fails I’ve been reading about. If the fudge never sets or turns to concrete in a pan, do not despair. If too soft, heat it up again to temp (234 F for Hershey recipe – if too soft your thermometer was probably off). If it was too hard add a little milk as it melts, I cook just until melted. Remove from heat, add a pat of butter on top and let cool and beat as before. I used to call it my special twice cooked fudge recipe”. Gustavo

Nutrition

Calories: 154kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 7mg | Sodium: 43mg | Potassium: 67mg | Sugar: 30g | Vitamin A: 100IU | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 0.4mg
Did You Make This Recipe?Please leave a comment below or pin it to your Pinterest account!

Updated from November 18, 2017.

320 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Didn’t know if I was doing it quite right for most of the time, but in the end, it worked!! 🙂

    1. Hi Emily, haha sometimes that’s thing with fudge. So glad it worked out. Have a great weekend.

  2. My mother in law taught me to make fudge using this same recipe except using canned evaporated milk. For the first time ever I just tried to make it with whole milk, I will never try whole milk again. It didn’t fudge. I have always been able to spoon and make individual pieces of candy. Guess the mother in law knew something Hershey’s didn’t know.

    1. Hi Diane, sorry it didn’t work for you, although it does for me. I will have to try it with evaporated milk. Thanks for the idea.

    2. 5 stars
      You must cook exactly as directed. The whole milk recipe works for me every time but you must use candy thermometer and beat it until it losses its gloss. It’s not easy but so worth it. It tastes so much better than the evaporated milk one. It’s the granulated sugar that makes it grainy and so much better than the smooth fudge when you use condensed milk or marshmallow creme.

      1. Hi Judy, I agree a candy thermometer is a must and it so worth it. Nothing like homemade old fashioned fudge. So glad you enjoyed it. 🙂

  3. How can I make the crumbly melt in your mouth peanut butter fudge? Please help! I AM TIRED OF SPENDING $50.00 FOR A POUND OF FUDGE & HAVE TO WIT FOR IT TO SHIP!!

    1. Hi Melanie, I’m trying a old fashioned homemade peanut butter fudge today, so fingers crossed it works out. 🙂 I know the cost of fudge is crazy.

  4. 5 stars
    I gave this a try over the weekend because I had a major chocolate craving lol and it was awesome – I followed the instructions exactly as you wrote them and didn’t have any problems.

  5. 5 stars
    This recipe!!!!!!!
    IT IS SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!
    I used it at Christmas to make all of my neighbour gifts.
    Then again last week I made a batch up to take to a friend as a treat with coffee..
    Best ever recipe Thank you 😀

    1. Hi Layla, since fudge is really sensitive I would stick to the whole milk. Hope that helps.

    1. Hi Leila, to tell the truth fudge the old fashioned way is very delicate, so I would not recommend doubling the recipe. Sorry.

  9. I want to use my baker’s chocolate as did my mother… alas I can’t find her recipe book…
    Help me. will this recipe allow for use of bakers chocolate…???

    1. Hi Bill, I would say yes you could use it. I have never used bakers chocolate (not available in Italy) but it just seems to be less sweet than regular. Let me know how it turns out.

  10. I so wanted this to work. I followed the instructions very literally. As soon as it got to a strong boil, I turned the heat down, as per the directions. When you’re waiting for the temperature to get to 234 degrees, are you waiting for it to cool down to 234 degrees? Or are you supposed to let it cool a bit and then turn the heat up a bit to get it back up to 234 degrees? I have a very efficient induction stove top, and the temperature cooled rapidly to 234 degrees within a minute or so. In total, the mix was on the stove only for about five minutes. When I turned it down it cooled so fast, that I thought five minutes couldn’t be right, so I slowly turned the heat up again until it got to 234 degrees. Then I followed the directions very carefully. No hope of setting, even though I beat it for about fifteen minutes with a wooden spoon. Can you clarify about the temperature and also give an indication of times? Thanks.

      1. Hi Carolyn, oh that’s great, I was just trying to figure out why it didn’t work. Homemade candy can be very tricky sometimes. But when it does work, it’s the best. Have a great weekend.

  11. This recipe sounds like what I am looking for but I love nuts in my fudge, when would you recommend adding the nuts to this recipe?

    1. Hi Lisa, apparently it is best to add the walnuts when you add the butter and vanilla. Hope that helps. Happy New Year.

  14. I’ll be honest, fudge is maybe my favorite thing about holiday parties. Cannot WAIT to try this out!

    1. Hi Karly, I hope you like it and I know what you mean, I love fudge. Have a great weekend.

  15. Whole milk is used in this recipe, often cream is used in fudge -why the ‘healthier’ version?
    Does it matter which is used?
    Thanks look forward to trying this

    1. Hi Karen, this is the original Hershey Recipe and it is whole milk, please do not substitute or it won’t work. This recipe needs to be followed exactly. I think it is made with milk because it has a longer cooking process. Let me know how it goes. Have a great week.

      1. 5 stars
        Hi Rosemary,
        I just made the old fashioned fudge using coconut milk and palm oil, making it vegan. Guess what, it turned out so well you wouldn’t know it wasn’t made with dairy!
        Thanks for all you do in the kitchen. Love your blog!

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