Old Fashioned Chocolate Fudge
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
More Chocolate Candy Recipes
- Homemade Chocolate Mint Filled Chocolates
- Chocolate Torrone
- Creamy Old Fashioned Caramel Candies
- Homemade Italian Chocolate Kisses / Baci
Old Fashioned Chocolate Fudge
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
Nutrition
Updated from November 18, 2017.
So amused to hear someone say this Is an odd way to make fudge-my family has made it like this for generations. Chocolate chips weren’t even around till the late 30’s when chopped chocolate was used in the original Toll House cookie recipe, became made into chips and mass-produced and found their way into lots of delicious foods, even ‘fudge’.
Hi Helen, when I first came to Italy there were no chocolate chips. Actually I find using a good quality chocolate bar better than chips. 🙂
This is such an odd way to make fudge. Usually I’m melting chocolate chips and adding in marshmallow fluff. It seems more like glass candy in the making rather than a fudge.
Hi Enid, this is old fashioned fudge and yes it is done differently.
Hi, I am 46 yrs old and this is how my mother made fudge while I was growing up. My mother got cancer at 39 and she died at 41, when I was 23, and before she died she gave me her recipe but over the years I had lost it during one of our moves so I’m glad I found this hard fudge recipe as I absolutely cant stand soft fudge.
I made chocolate fudge with as 1/2 cup
I used to have a club aluminum pan and my fudge came out perfect every time. When I moved, one of the movers must have thought they needed the pan more than me. It didn’t make it to my new home. You can’t find heavy pans anymore and the newer pans cook too fast and/or cool too fast. I had been making the fudge for over 50 years. When I got married and left home, I could pop popcorn and make fudge. That’s all the cooking I knew. Anybody have any suggestions for the thinner pans?
Hi Mary, oh that’s too bad. I found this website that talks about heavy pans for fudge. I hope it helps. https://www.sousbeurrekitchen.com/best-pot-for-making-fudge/
I remember my sister making when I was young and remembered the cold water test. The only difference in what I did was cook on medium heat 15 minutes constantly stirring then reduced heat to low for 10-15 minutes. It almost got to hard to pour out. I guess I misunderstood in the beginning that it took 15 minutes to come to hard boil so I continued to cook 15 more minutes at hard boil. Still turned out good.
Hi Peggy, thanks glad you like it, I never have much luck if I don’t use a thermometer. Have a great weekend.
I was very excited to try this recipe, however as I left the mixture in the pot for approximately 30 minutes, the mixture became way too thick and hard to stir. I had to throw the whole thing in the bin. I was so disheartened by this. I will try again but 30 minutes is definitely too long to let it sit. 15 minutes max.
This may sound really silly but I want to make sure I am understanding the instructions completely right and the video unfortunately doesn’t quite answer this for me.
When you add the butter and vanilla it says not to stir.
Are you just adding them into the mix and leaving it without incorporating it or do you stir them in and then leave the mix alone to cool?
Hi Maryanne, yes just add them in without incorporating, then after the time has passed beat it with a wooden spoon. Let me know how it goes.
I am so happy with how my fudge turned out! My last attempt at old fashioned fudge from years ago was a greasy crystallized brick. This recipe was easy to follow and turned out perfectly! I calibrated my thermometer ahead of time by measuring the temperature of boiling water. It took a very long time for my fudge to reach 234 degrees. I think it’s because I have an electric stove and the setting was too low. The result was well worth the wait! Creamy, melt in your mouth heavenly fudge!
Hi Bailey, thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it. Yes you certainly need patience to make a good fudge. Take care.
My family and I are all lactose intolerant could I make this recipe using lactose-free whole milk?
Hi Sophie, I have never made it with lactose free, but you could try and see out it goes.
I used 1.5 cup from can of coconut milk and turned out great.
Hello, I’d love to make this, but my family is never a big fan of really sweet things. Can the sugar be reduced?
Hi Deedee, no I wouldn’t reduce the sugar it probably won’t work that way. Fudge is extremely sweet.
Worked great for me with no candy thermometer I just dropped it in water to see if it stuck togather like a soft ball but a bit to sweet for my tastes.
During the covid19 lockdown I said to myself, I’m going to make. I’m an old male. Tomorrow it’ll happen and I will report back on my results. Ray.
Hi Ray, thanks let me know how it goes.
I followed everything to a T in this recipe and it was undercooked. I think the problem may be the adjustment of temperature due to altitude. I think it was too low based on my altitude. I followed everything exactly, so I think this was the issue. Other recipes have a higher temperature in general.
Im amased.thid is similar to my mims recipe.im 72 and all family harp on my fudge but i didbt always get it rights
Now thanks to this site. I know where i wss going wrong
I don’t have a candy thermometer, and couldn’t get one because here in New Zealand we are in a Covid-19 lockdown. So I had to do some guesswork and unfortunately my fudge didn’t set firmly. It is soft – too soft to cut. Is there anything I can do to fix it?
Hi Diane, yes unfortunately I find candy making definitely needs a thermometer. What you can do is make it into a fudge topping. Place it in a pot add a little cream or milk and heat it stirring constantly on low heat. Hope that helps.
The fudge did not set for me either and is still very runny/soft and unable to cut. Is there anything that can be done to set the fudge?
Hi K I really don’t know if you could fix it. Fudge that isn’t set is because it hasn’t been heated enough at the beginning.
According to the Hershey’s recipe that this one is based on, if you don’t have a candy thermometer, you should boil the mixture until a small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water, forms a soft ball which flattens when removed from water.