Cranberry Walnut Fudge

I love fudge! It's one of my favorite sweet treats made even better because of the sweet memories that I have of eating fudge through the years.


I think my first memory involving Fudge is when my Mom made a pretty big batch of it one Christmas. That year, we had a group of Christmas Carolers come to the door. We didn't have cookies to offer them since Mom hadn't done any baking yet, but Mom did give them some of her fudge.


My next memory of having fudge would have to be our trips to the Jersey Shore and going to the candy shops on the boardwalk to buy fudge and salt water taffy. They had so many different flavors, but plain chocolate was always my favorite!


Then, I remember staying with my Gram for a week when I was about 11 or 12. My Gram has a huge sweet tooth (I think I inherited it from her)! She taught me how to make a batch of fudge while I was there. It was surprisingly easy. And when we finished eating that batch, she sent me into the kitchen to make more! I never made it again after that (until recently) and I'm not sure why. Since it was such an easy treat to make!


After that, in my late teens, a huge mall opened and they had a fudge shop. They made a huge production of making the fudge and people lined up to watch them! I remember going to the movies with my friend Lisa and stopping to get some fudge to eat during the movie! By that time, my favorite was chocolate peanut butter!


A few years ago, I wanted to do some baking for Christmas. Not being much of a baker, I didn't know what I would need. I sent hubby out to get me some ingredients and he came home with huge bags of chocolate chips! I didn't even put a dent in them and had tons left over. So, that spring I found a recipe on VeryBestBaking.com for Easter Basket Fudge that used chocolate chips. I had all the ingredients (surprisingly) but decided to leave off the icing and jelly beans.


Not only was I able to use up all of our chocolate chips before the summer came (I was afraid they would melt in our hot, second floor apartment), I was also able to take a nice, big batch of fudge and chocolate covered strawberries to my parents' house for Easter.


Since then, I like to make fudge during the holidays. It's easy. I usually have all the ingredients. And almost everyone likes it!


Here's how my Mom requests that I make the batch that comes to her house:


Cranberry-Walnut Fudge


Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 2 Tbs. butter
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 cups mini marshmallows
• 1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup craisins

directions:

• Line 8x8 baking dish with foil.
• Combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt in saucepan.
• Bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
• Boil, stirring constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat.
• Stir in marshmallows, morsels, craisins, nuts and vanilla extract.
• Stir vigorously for 1 minute or until marshmallows are melted.
• Pour into foil lined pan and refrigerate until firm.
• Lift from pan; remove foil.

I've also used milk-chocolate morsels for this recipe, but we prefer the semi-sweet chocolate.  Sometimes I add some extra marshmallows add the end of the mixing.  I usually let the 2 cups of marshmallows  that I stir into the milk/sugar mixture melt completely.  Then I add a handful or two near the end, letting them melt a slight bit, but still hold their shape.  I like the way the fudge looks when it's sliced and you can see the craisins, nuts and marshmallows!  Mmmmm! 

The photo shown is from the batch of fudge that Joe and I made this Christmas.  It doesn't look as "pretty" as it normally does, we spread it into a bigger pan this time and that made the fudge thinner.  Then, we tried to cut it too soon, so we could take some to our family's house on Christmas Eve.  It still tasted wonderful!  Just didn't look as nice! 

Note: The original recipe claims to get 48 pieces from batch! No way would a piece that small fill my sweet tooth! I cut into much bigger pieces. I get about 24 pieces of fudge from an 8x8 pan.

This post originally appeared on my other blog.

You can find this post linked at the following blog carnivals: