Grandpa's Super Secret Fudge Recipe

I'm about to do something that would make my grandpa Jim turn over in his grave. I'm going to share his secret fudge recipe with you.

The story that I heard was that my grandpa got this recipe from a woman who bought the recipe from a rather famous candy company. I don't know how true this was. My grandpa also swore up and down that he saw a unicorn in the woods when he worked for the Forest Service. Regardless of where the recipe came from, this will be the best fudge you've ever tasted.

I know, you have a fudge recipe that you make every Christmas and everyone says "oooh, yum, fudge." but its not as good as this recipe. I promise.

The first thing that you'll need is a well seasoned cast iron skillet. I've never made it in anything else. Don't try. If you don't have a cast iron skillet, go buy one. Why don't you already have one anyways? Geez.

The second thing that you'll need to know is that you're basically making a molten lava glue that will burn the bejeezus out of you if you get it anywhere on you. So don't. Along those same lines, make sure any little children or animals that you have running around your house are tucked snugly in bed or wherever you choose to keep them. Just keep them out of your kitchen.

So here's what you'll need:

1 12 oz package of semi sweet chocolate chips- I always use nestle'
Just under 1 cup of evaporated milk, maybe a tablespoon and a half less than a cup
13 regular sized marshmallows
1 tsp vanilla
1 cube of unsalted butter
1 cup nuts (optional)
2 cups sugar

As you can see by the picture, I didn't add nuts. I really like to add pecans and my mom adds walnuts a lot of the time. I want to try adding macadamia nuts next time. I skipped it this time because we're taking this batch with us over to some friends' house for dinner and I didn't know if they liked nuts or not. Better safe than sorry!

So your first step is to cut your cube of butter into small pieces and put that into the mixing bowl (I use my stand mixer.) Add the chocolate chips and the vanilla to that bowl as well

In your cast iron skillet, mix the sugar and evaporated milk together with a wire whisk. Add the marshmallows and heat over a medium-low heat. Adjust the heat as everything is melting so your mixture doesn't bubble over and create a huge, sticky monster mess.

This is what the mixture will look like when the marshmallows have just melted. Keep stirring and cooking.

It should look more like this. I don't even own a candy thermometer so I couldn't tell you what the temperature of it should be but it should be the color of a perfectly toasted marshmallow and it should separate easily when you run your whisk through it. This step might take some practice. Getting it dark enough is the key to keeping the fudge from being gritty but you have to make sure it doesn't burn either. No pressure, right?

When your marshmallow mixture is the perfect color and consistency, you will, CAREFULLY, pour it into the mixing bowl with the chocolate chips, butter and vanilla. I'm going to stress this, you're basically pouring sticky lava into another bowl from a scorching hot skillet. Don't get any on you!

All that's left is to mix it all up. Keep mixing until it starts to set up and then, using a spatula, smooth it all into a parchment paper lined, square baking pan (this is the only part of the recipe I changed from Grandpa's version. He greased the pan with butter, but I didn't like the greasiness of it on the bottom.) If you got the marshmallow mixture to the perfect temp this should set up at room temperature. If it doesn't set up quickly, stick it in the fridge. I usually do that anyways because I can hardly wait to taste it.

Hopefully Grandpa won't come back and haunt me for sharing this with all of you...