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Old Fashioned Fudge Recipe

Old Fashioned Fudge Recipe

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.

best fudge recipe
Old Fashioned Fudge Recipe

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!

easy homemade fudge

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: 👇👇👇👇

half empty tin of fudge
Within 30 minutes of making…..!

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.

simple fudge recipe
Homemade fudge recipe

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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Fudge toffee

Old fashioned fudge recipe

Yield: 60 pieces
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: 60 Serving 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

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Jasmine

Tuesday 7th of November 2023

For the sugar, is it granulated or caster? Or does it not really matter.. so glad I found this recipe! roly’s fudge (small English franchise) has always been my favourite, and this looks just like it!

Gav

Saturday 18th of November 2023

Jasmine, I always make it with granulated sugar (have updated the recipe to show). But probably it does not make that much difference (have never tried with caster). Have just looked at the Roly's website and it does indeed look similar. This is also crumbly! They use similar ingredients as well it appears. Hope it works out!

Liz

Thursday 6th of July 2023

I’ve been looking for a more crumbly fudge recipe as many are chewy fudge. This fudge recipe is definitely a new favourite! It did take me two goes as I took it off the heat too late the first time so it ended up hard and partly toffee. But now I’ve made it right I will definitely be making it again!

Gav

Monday 10th of July 2023

Liz, glad you managed to get it to work second time (the toffee is good as well though!) It is difficult to describe exactly when to remove from the pan, but once you have tried it you can see how the texture changes just at the point it starts to turn into toffee. Happy you enjoyed it!

Deb

Saturday 3rd of June 2023

Can I add cocoa? If so how much?

Gav

Wednesday 21st of June 2023

I am sure you could, but that is not my recipe. Experiment away and let us know if it works

Bert McIntosh

Monday 13th of March 2023

What is the best temperature to have the heat on to let butter and add sugar, low, medium or high.

Gav

Monday 13th of March 2023

I cook this on gas Bert so do not really know the exact temperature. But I would have it on a medium heat while melting the butter so as not to burn it and then turn up to high once all the ingredients are in. The important thing is to continue stirring after you add the condensed milk until it is finished, or it will burn. Good luck!

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