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Christmas didn’t go quite as planned – but that’s okay. While the blizzard kept us from grandpa and grandma’s house, it gave us a chance to play every game we have, stay up late and lounge around in our PJ’s. (Who could make it over to see what we’d become?!)

It also gave us a chance to eat nearly every cookie and treat we had squirreled away for company arriving ahead of New Years.

In fact, the only opportunity to venture beyond our driveway was to Christmas Eve Mass and then to Mass again Sunday morning. (Is that a message? Hmmm.) Thank goodness the wind died down so we could get outside and play in the snow….we needed some fresh air and an opportunity to spread out.

In the mean time, we had to tackle the lack of treats for our coming guests. The girls and I decided to try making something new: fudge!

While there are probably some fudge experts out there, we had never strayed much beyond sugar cookies, peanut butter blossoms and store-bought gingerbread house kits.

So here we go…

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of sugar
5-ounce can of evaporated milk (we used 2/3 of a cup)
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter
2 cups of small marshmallows
1 cup of chocolate chips (semisweet)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
(If you like fudge with nuts, use 1/2  cup of chopped walnuts. We skipped this.)

Step 1: Line a 8 x 8 x 2 pan with foil – making sure the foil goes over the edges (the foil is used to lift the fudge out of the pan later on). Either butter the foil or use non-stick spray so the fudge doesn’t stick. We used spray – and it worked fine.

Step 2: In a 2.5 or 4 quart microwave-safe bowl, nuke the butter for a minute or until it’s melted. (We used the bigger bowl…and I’m glad we did.) Stir in the sugar and evaporated milk.

Step 3: Microwave the mixture – uncovered – for 7 minutes if you have a powerful microwave (or 10 if you have a wimpy one); stirring every 3 minutes. Be careful! The bowl will be HOT! (We left it in the microwave a minute longer since we were using a bigger bowl. I figured the bowl would suck up some of the heat.) When we took it out the last time, the mixture was thickish with large bubbles. The kids just watched all this – it was too hot for them to help.

Step 4: Pour the marshmallows, chocolate chips and vanilla into the mixture. (And nuts if you like fudge with nuts.)

Step 5: Carefully stir the HOT mixture until the chocolate and marshmallows are completely melted. It took a bit for the marshmallows to mix in – and I used a hot pad to hold the bowl. After everything is melted, beat the mixture by hand for 1 minute.

Step 6: Pour the mixture into your pan, smooth it a bit if you can. Ours was already too thick to smooth out too much. Then put the pan into the fridge for 2-3 hours to cool and firm up.

Step 7: When the fudge is firm, lift it out of the pan with the foil. Then carefully peel the foil away (I just flipped it over and pulled the foil off). Place it on a cutting board and, using a large knife, cut the pieces into about 1-inch squares, yielding 64 pieces.

I used a large knife – a chef’s knife – because it reached all the way across and I could cut off an entire 8 x 1 inch strip at once.

Store the pieces in a container in the fridge – if you stack them in layers be sure to use waxed paper to separate them. Ours got a bit softish after cutting, but seemed to stay firm after spending the night in the fridge. And, we’re happy to say, they turned out well – firm, creamy and yummy.

Now the trick is keeping them hidden until New Years!

About the author: Mike Howie

Mike Howie has lived in Hastings about four years. He may not always know who is related to whom or who owns what business or who works where. He just knows that he likes it here. And that it doesn’t take a half hour to drive anywhere in town. Even if he gets turned around.