Growing up in Michigan with family further north, fudge from Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island was like the ultimate summer treat for us all. But in the winter access to the island is pretty restricted and going over an hour north in snowy weather was not always an option. So a few years back my grandmother tasked me with finding a way to recreate that famous fudge as best I could without it being too complicated so we could have fudge in the colder months too.
I turned to the internet. I found a few hundred recipes, I spent countless hours tinkering with stuff, and this is the end result. The next year I made this for both the family Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it was utterly amazing. I started making different flavors to placate everyone's tastes, and those always went over well. So here it is for the rest of you to have :D
This is also a contest entry for the latest round of contests from SteemKitchen because I love entering!
You'll Need The Following;
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup (6 oz) evaporated milk
- 12 oz chocolate chips or disks
- 7 oz marshmallow fluff
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
So basically the color and flavor of this are determined mostly by the chocolate. I used just plain chocolate for this, but if I'd used white chips the mixture wouldn't turn brown or if I used mint chips there would be a mint taste to them. You can also add things like nuts if you really want to for extra flavor.
This, surprisingly, doesn't require baking so no oven preheating is required!
Instead, your first step is to melt your butter. Get that stuff nice and liquidy!
This next step is like 90% of the recipe, seriously.
Add your sugar and evaporated milk to your melted butter and mix them well. Then in a microwave safe container (the shown bowl is silicone) do the following;
- Heat the mixture for 3 minutes, remove from microwave and stir
- Heat for 2 more minutes, remove and stir
- Heat for 3 more minutes, remove and stir
- Heat for a final 2 minutes, remove and stir
While the stuff is heating up go ahead and line a pan with parchment paper or something similar. I used our 13x9 pan because our 9x9 is being used right now, but basically the smaller the pan the thicker your pieces will be.
Once the mix comes out of the microwave you have to move pretty quick. Toss in your chocolate, marshmallow fluff and vanilla extract and stir until it's pretty well mixed like shown. The heat from the microwave mix will melt the chocolate and marshmallow fluff pretty well.
Once it's all mixed together go ahead and pour it in your pan. Then stick the pan in the fridge overnight at least.
And once it's solid, go ahead and cut the fudge into pieces. Now what I've never been able to recreate is the texture at room temperature, it seems to only want to hold semi-solid when it's cold. My grandmother used to put the plate on top of a thing of ice to keep it cold for display purposes during family gatherings, but having made it for just me and my roommate I just keep it in our fridge and pull out pieces as needed :)
So there you go! Easy microwave fudge, and super tasty to boot. Not difficult to customize, and just generally all around amazing. Just be prepared to keep it cold (or freeze it ahead of time) for parties and such or else it gets melty and sticky and I haven't been able to find a way to fix that yet >.>
Banner was made by me in Photoshop. All other pictures here were taken by me specifically for this post. I have been a home cook for over a decade, and any questions or comments about this recipe are encouraged!
If you like this content resteems, upvotes and comments are much appreciated.