Old Fashioned Fudge Recipe - our secret family recipe revealed! (2024)

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Secret fudge recipe

My family has handed down quite a few recipes through the generations. And this is another of our old family secret recipes – an old fashioned fudge recipe made with condensed milk.

This homemade fudge recipe has been kept a family secret for years and is now available to everyone!

All my siblings learned how to make this from my late Dad, just as I have taught my own kids. Because it is made with condensed milk, we loved making it as kids.

We would fight to clean out the condensed milk tin with our fingers (and we still do)!

And when it was finished, we licked the wooden spoon until it was clean.

Old Fashioned Fudge Recipe - our secret family recipe revealed! (1)

You lucky people get free access to this secret recipe right HERE !!

Types of fudge

There are many different types of fudge. The vanilla fudge you buy in the shops in the UK commonly has a sort of smooth, gooey consistency. And fudge has evolved over the ages.

Today, you can find an endless array of fudge varieties, including peanut butter, caramel, mint, and even combinations like sea salt and dark chocolate.

Fudge has also become a canvas for creative culinary minds, who have infused it with flavours ranging from exotic fruits to spicy chilli peppers.

But the fudge in this recipe has no flavouring, apart from flavours from the three ingredients: sweet condensed milk, sugar and butter. It has a sort of crystallized, grainy, crumbly texture. Unless of course you ‘fudge’ the recipe and make toffee instead!

Hybrid Recipe

This is, in fact, a hybrid recipe. You can make the most delicious moreish fudge you can imagine. (Beware, as this will rot your teeth in time if you do not clean them properly)!

Or you can make the hardest and tastiest brittle TOFFEE (that will break your teeth in real time)!

BE WARNED!! Make it (and eat it) at your own risk!

The only difference in the recipe is the moment you take it off the heat.

Healthy ? – Probably not very……. ☺️

Needless to say, this sweetened condensed milk fudge recipe has plenty of sugar in it. So it may not be the healthiest of treats, but hey, show me any healthy fudge recipe!

It has plenty of calories and it is SOOO tasty! Hide the box!

The photo below shows what happens in our house if you do not remove the fudge from the tin fairly quickly and hide it away somewhere: 👇👇👇👇

Old Fashioned Fudge Recipe - our secret family recipe revealed! (3)

Although this looks like an easy fudge recipe, as there are only 3 ingredients, it is actually not as easy as you may imagine, to get it right.

There is a very fine line between making a batch of fudge or a batch of toffee. Leave it too long in the pan and you will have toffee instead (and a much bigger job of cleaning the pan and licking the wooden spoons clean)!

In this link, you can read a bit about different types of fudges and the chemistry of cooking fudge.

Old Fashioned Fudge Recipe - our secret family recipe revealed! (4)

This all comes down to experience, and when you have made it once you will see what I mean. So if it turns out as toffee, then it needs to come out of the pan earlier!

In any case, make sure you clean your teeth well after you have tried this, as the sugar content is very high!

If you make this, please let me know how you get on in the comments section below!

How to make fudge

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Old Fashioned Fudge Recipe - our secret family recipe revealed! (5)
Old Fashioned Fudge Recipe - our secret family recipe revealed! (6)

Old fashioned fudge recipe

Prep Time: 1 minute

Cook Time: 9 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

This handed down fudge or toffee recipe will become a family favourite. Great around Christmas or Thanksgiving as an after-dinner treat.

Ingredients

  • 1 can condensed milk
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 140g salted butter

Instructions

  1. Butter a flat baking tray.
  2. Melt the butter in a saucepan and slowly add the sugar. When you can see the sugar just beginning to burn (little brown bits in it), then add the condensed milk.
  3. Now keep stirring with a wooden spoon (non-stop) – if you stop stirring, it will burn and you will have toffee stuck to the pan. It will change colour to light brown and then a darker brown. Keep stirring. Then at some point the mix will start to change texture.
  4. You will see what I mean – the mixture will start to change its consistency. At this point, and NO LATER, you pour it onto the baking tray. If you get it right, it should be fudge, and edible without breaking your teeth ☺️.
  5. If you get it wrong, the bottom of the pan will have dark brown burnt sugar residues, and you will have made toffee instead (also good !) The taste is the same, but it can break your teeth. The advantage is that the batch lasts longer, as the other consumers are away at the dentist 😂.
  6. Before it has completely cooled mark into squares with a knife.

Notes

After you have poured out the mixture, use a wooden spoon to wipe clean the pan and remove all the remaining fudge/toffee.

Let this cool and give to the kids to keep them quiet for a bit!

Break the fudge into squares and keep in an airtight box in the safe (or it will all go! 😂 )

To clean the pan you will need to soak it for a while in water.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 60Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 45Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 16mgCarbohydrates: 7gFiber: 0gSugar: 7gProtein: 0g

This nutrition information was automatically calculated by Nutritionix, but may not be 100% accurate.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

Here you can find some other recipes you may enjoy:

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READEnglish Ginger Biscuits - Cornish Fairings
READFruity Flapjacks (cereal bars)
READAlmond Macaroon Cookies
READChewy Coconut Macaroons
READChewy Chocolate Cookies
READRound Madeira Cake
READHalloween Rice Krispie Treats
Old Fashioned Fudge Recipe - our secret family recipe revealed! (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good fudge? ›

You have to control two temperatures to make successful fudge: the cooking temperature AND the temperature at which the mixture cools before stirring to make it crystallize. Confectionery experiments have shown that the ideal cooking temperature for fudge is around 114 to 115 °C (237 to 239 °F).

Is evaporated milk or condensed milk better for fudge? ›

Evaporated milk doesn't have sugar added. The sweetened condended milk is needed as no extra sugar is added to the fudge. If evaporated milk were used then the fudge would not be sweet enough and also would still be too soft unless the fudge is frozen.

What is the secret to smooth fudge that is not gritty? ›

Once a seed crystal forms, it grows bigger and bigger as the fudge cools. A lot of big crystals in fudge makes it grainy. By letting the fudge cool without stirring, you avoid creating seed crystals.

What is traditional fudge made of? ›

At its simplest, fudge is a dense, soft candy, often made with sugar and dairy products like butter and milk. Nowadays, fudge is usually flavored with chocolate, but you can utilize pretty much any flavor, such as peanut butter, pumpkin, even birthday cake.

What not to do when making fudge? ›

7 Common Mistakes to Avoid for Candy Shop-Worthy Fudge and Caramels
  1. Using the Wrong Pan. All candy and confections start by melting sugar. ...
  2. Stirring the Sugar. ...
  3. Not Using a Candy Thermometer. ...
  4. Leaving Out the Parchment Paper Lining. ...
  5. Skipping the Cooking Spray. ...
  6. Scraping the Pot. ...
  7. Using a Cold Knife to Slice.
Dec 16, 2015

What does cream of tartar do in fudge? ›

Cream of tartar is used in caramel sauces and fudge to help prevent the sugar from crystallizing while cooking. It also prevents cooling sugars from forming brittle crystals, this is why it's the secret ingredient in snickerdoodles!

Is semi sweet or milk chocolate better for fudge? ›

Chocolate: you may use semi-sweet chocolate or dark chocolate. If you want milk chocolate fudge, I suggest using a combination of milk and semi-sweet, so that it's not overly sweet. But this is up to you! You could also use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but I suggest sticking to high-quality chocolate if possible.

Why won't my condensed milk fudge set? ›

It sounds like your fudge simply wasn't heated enough. Fudge is basically a superconcentrated syrup, and it sets when sugar dissolved in the water (from the butter and milk) comes out of solution as the mixture cools and forms crystals.

Why is condensed milk not advisable? ›

Sweetened condensed milk is high in calories and unsuitable for people with cow's milk protein allergy or lactose intolerance. Its sweet flavor may be off-putting for some and doesn't typically serve as a good substitute for regular milk in recipes.

Why is my old fashioned fudge not hardening? ›

The amount of time you cook fudge directly affects its firmness. Too little time and the water won't evaporate, causing the fudge to be soft. Conversely, cook it too long and fudge won't contain enough water, making it hard with a dry, crumbly texture.

Why did my fudge turn out like taffy? ›

If the fudge is very soft and slightly chewy then it is possible that it did not quite cook to soft ball stage and next time the mixture should be cooked to a slightly higher temperature (soft ball is 112-116c/235-240F and a sugar or candy thermometer can help).

What happens if you cook fudge too long? ›

If there is too much evaporation, when the cooking time is too long, there will not be enough water left in the fudge and it will be too hard. Conversely, if the cooking time is too brief and there is not enough evaporation, too much water will remain and the fudge will be too soft.

What makes fudge moist? ›

If there is too much evaporation, when the cooking time is too long, there will not be enough water left in the fudge and it will be too hard. Conversely, if the cooking time is too brief and there is not enough evaporation, too much water will remain and the fudge will be too soft.

What keeps fudge from getting hard? ›

Too little time and the water won't evaporate, causing the fudge to be soft. Conversely, cook it too long and fudge won't contain enough water, making it hard with a dry, crumbly texture.

Why won t my fudge go hard? ›

The main reason is that your Fudge has not reached the optimum temperature. If your mixture only reaches 110 or 112 degrees Celsius it will always be soft. That's why we recommend investing in a sugar thermometer. Another reason your Fudge is not setting is that the ratio of liquid to sugar is too high.

How to make your fudge soft? ›

Reset the fudge

Just as you read earlier you have to mix the ingredients and heat it at 234 degrees. But as you are doing it again just add a little amount of water to bring out the consistency. Along with this make sure to add moisture to make it soft.

References

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