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.
good recipe but why did my fudge come out crystallized even when boiling it it wasn’t a smooth liquid? pls help I’m trying to bake right now I want to do another batch today is Monday dec 14 2020 pls pls help
Hi Connie, it might help if you use fruit/fine sugar (caster sugar) you can make your own by blending granulated sugar until fine but not powdered. Let me know.
Absolutely delicious! My first batch was a little crumbly (I believe I mixed it for too long at the end) but my second batch is absolutely perfect! I had to use the cold water method to test if it reached soft-ball phase because my temp was not going high enough, I think my candy thermometer is not calibrated
Hi Emerald, thanks so much, and thank you for letting me know about the cold water method. Merry Christmas.
This might be a silly questions but do I just put the butter in cold? Or melted?
Hi Autumn, not a silly question, the butter can be either cold or room temperature but not melted. Let me know how it goes.
I have been waiting for close to 2 hours for the temperature to reach the 234 degrees. Is this normal?
Hi Susan 2 hours seems a bit extreme, raise the heat a bit. Let me know.
I’ve tried making this recipe twice now but both times it hasn’t turned out. I waited well over 30 minutes without stirring for the temperature to hit 234°, but the highest it gets is about 220° and then it starts to lower. Even tried the cold water test and that didn’t work either. Followed all the steps after with adding the butter and vanilla and waiting to combine those until 110°. It looks and smells amazing at that point, but it didn’t set over night and was still liquid in the morning. Is it supposed to be refrigerated overnight? It’s not humid out and I don’t live very high above sea level so I have no clue what the problem is. It smells so good I just want it to turn out 🙁
Hi Rachel, sometimes it may take longer than 30 minutes you have to continue until it reaches 234F, 220 isn’t high enough for it to set properly. Let me know.
In your comments at the end of the recipe you talked about adjusting to altitude, we live a mile high and I went to 224 degrees and it did t set, should I try it to 234 degrees? I also doubled it, maybe that was the issue too 🤷🏼♀️ Any suggestions?
Hi Sheri, actually if it set at 224 then I would leave it at that, it also could be because you doubled the recipe. 🙂
My fudge didn’t. Garden up, don’t want to waste it, can I fix this ? though it tastes delicious . Help please !
Hi Patricia, I have heard some people heat it back up and try from there. Let me know.
Above you stated “ Yes you can add nuts or Peanut butter the best time to add these ingredients is when you add the butter and vanilla.”.
I am new to fudge and loved this recipe the first time through. If I wanted to add PB, how much would I add?
Thanks!!
Hi Matt, apparently someone added 1 cup of peanut butter and it worked perfectly, so I would say anywhere from 1/2-1 cup would probably be fine. Let me know how it turns out.
My husband is a diabetic so I try to make things so he can, at least, eat a small amount. Have you or anyone on here ever replace the sugar with Stevia and is so, how did it turn out?
Hi Penny I have never used stevia, so I really don’t know if it would work. If you try it let me know.
Should I use unsalted butter, or salted? Thank you.
Hi Michelle I only use salted butter but if you use unsalted then increase the salt to 1/4 teaspoon. Hope you like it.
This is what I call homemade fudge! What are your thoughts about replacing the milk with something non-dairy? Would the amount of sugar be enough, when heated properly, to cool to solid, without the milk proteins, if say I used oat, coconut, or almond milk?
Hi Joe, thanks so much, I really don’t know about substituting the milk as you say without the milk proteins, I don’t know if it would turn out. If you decide to try it let me know. 🙂
I would suggest the thick canned coconut milk and the fat to use coconut oil. The milk substitutes in the cartons do not work well without additional thickening agents. or separation occurs
At first when you have it on medium and bring it to a boil, is there a certain temp it should be around? Also, have you ever tried it with peanut butter? I’m wondering if it will throw it all off if too much is added. Thanks.
HI Justin, just as long as its at a strong boil, then turn down the heat until it reaches 234F. Its best to add the peanut butter when you add the butter and vanilla, I would start with 1/4 cup. 🙂
This is the fudge my grandmother taught me to make when I was young. She was no fool – it got turned over to me when it was time to stir.. and stir.. and stir.
I’ll be making it again this Christmas. I’m wondering if this can be doubled successfully?
Hi Doreen, I have never doubled it, let me know if you do. Take care.
Darn it I stirred it after I removed it from heat I added butter and vanilla waiting for it to get to room temperature hopefully everything turned out good love the recipe though 🤞 Fingers crossed it works out! You were a recipe with no marshmallows and no semi sweet chips!!
Hi Janine, I hope so let me know how it turned out. 🙂
Didn’t set up 😢 not giving up starting from. Scratch tonight’ bummer I have that you’re all this away
Hi Janine, good luck let me know how it went.
My fudge turned out runny can I reheat it then will it work?
Hi Erik, it’s probably because it wasn’t heated to a high enough temperature. You can try re heating it but add 1/4 cup of water. Let me know how it goes.
Now, THIS is Fudge! I am sooooo tired of the marshmallow/choc chip concoction which has found its way into every candy making kitchen in America. This recipe is real fudge and has an old. delicious history. It’s 110% better than the marshmallow stuff and worth every minute it takes to make it. Sometimes quickness and convenience isn’t “better”… its just faster.
Hi Susan, thanks and I feel the exact same way. Nothing like real fudge! Take care.