National Fudge Day: Fudge Recipe Round-Up

National Fudge Day: What a great day to celebrate! My Aunt Annie made the best Fudge in the world, but now that I know more about candy nomenclature, I think she really made truffles. They were dark chocolate balls rolled in cocoa. I'll always remember her truffles as fudge.

However, I had my first taste of 'real' fudge down the shore in Atlantic City. Fudge was sold along with Salt Water Taffy at many of the Boardwalk candy shops.

In honor of National Fudge Day, I'm posting a Recipe Round-Up of Fudge Recipes that have appeared on DyingforChocolate.com!

Just an FYI: I'm from Philly, and I grew up with Philadelphia Cream Cheese, so the Philly Fudge recipe below is an adaptation of the famous uncooked fudge recipe developed by Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese.  It became popular right after World War II. It really is foolproof.

Be sure to scroll down for all the links to fabulous Fudge!!! 

History of Fudge: Fudge was supposedly invented in the U.S. in the late 1880s. Historians believe the first batch of fudge resulted from a bungled batch of caramels, as in "Oh, Fudge." I don't think so... According to Wikipedia, the main component of Fudge was similar to the traditional recipe for Scots Tablet found in The Household Book of the Lady Grisell Baillie (1692-1733).

One of the first documented examples of American fudge (containing chocolate!) was found in a letter written by Emelyn Batersby Hartridge, a Vassar College student, who wrote that a friend's cousin made fudge in Baltimore in 1886 and sold it for 40 cents a pound. Hartridge asked for the fudge recipe, and in 1888 made 30 pounds of the fudge for the Vassar Senior Auction.

Other fudge recipes in the USA can be traced back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Mackinac Island fudge ice cream (vanilla ice cream blended with small chunks of fudge) is still sold on Mackinac Island in Michigan, and surrounding areas, where shops have been selling fudge to summer vacationers since the late nineteenth century.

In The Candy Book (Alice Bradley, 1929) an entire chapter is devoted to fudge.

Fudge is a crystalline candy, which means that, unlike lollipops, caramels, and taffy, crystal formation is the key to making great fudge. Tiny microcrystals of sugar in fudge give fudge its firm but smooth texture. The secret to successful fudge is getting these crystals to form at just the right time. Fudge is one of the rare exceptions to the rule that sugar crystals are not desirable in candy. Tiny microcrystals in fudge are what give it its firm texture. When the crystals are small enough, they don’t feel grainy on your tongue, but smooth.

While you ultimately want crystals to form, it's important that they don't form too early. Now this is where it gets tricky! The key to successful, non-grainy fudge is in the cooling, not the cooking. If you disturb the cooling fudge during this cooling phase, you increase the potential for larger crystals (seed crystals) of sugar to form too early and thus a grainy fudge results.

O.K. this is too much for me to take in, not being a candy maker. So how to make fudge relatively easy?

FUDGE RECIPE LINKS 

S'mores Fudge: 2 Recipes

Elsie's Double Chocolate Nutty Fudge

Bailey's Irish Cream Fudge

Granny Hollin's Peanut Butter Fudge

Penuche (Creamy Praline) Fudge

Layered Mint Chocolate Fudge

Five Minute Dark Chocolate Coffee Fudge

Candy Cane Fudge

Retro Marshmal-O Fudge

Fanny Farmer Fudge

Triple Chocolate Honey Fudge

Marshmallow Fluff Fudge: 2 Vintage Ads & Recipes

Retro Ronrico Rum Fudge

Peanut Butter Fudge

Six Vintage Holiday Fudge Recipes

Cinderella Pink Fairy-Tale Fudge

Double Layer Fudge

Nutty Fudge (3 recipes)

Goldie's Fudge

Vanilla Macadamia Nut Fudge

Nigella's Chocolate Pistachio Fudge

Creamy Chocolate Fudge

Chocolate Coffee Fudge

Ruth Jordan's Busy Lady Fudge

Foolproof Dark Chocolate Fudge

Easy Million Dollar Fudge

PHILLY FUDGE

Ingredients
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 - 8 ounce package Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
2 Tbsp milk or cream
4 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Dash of salt
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
  
Directions
Butter 8 inch baking pan well; set aside.
Melt chocolate in double boiler over hot, not boiling water.
Mix cream cheese and milk (or cream), beating on high speed until smooth.
Add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at time, and beat at low speed until creamy.
Blend in melted chocolate, vanilla, and salt. Beat until smooth.
Stir in pecans or walnuts, but not both.
Press mixture into pan, cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight or until firm.
Cut into 1 1/4-inch squares.