Classic Chocolate Fudge

The old fashioned way!

Happy almost-Christmas! For my last recipe of the year, I’ve got another candy project for you — fudge! It’s the perfect downtime recipe that involves simple pantry ingredients and just the right amount of interactivity. Fit it in between holiday movies or trivia games, or enjoy a quiet moment stirring away when the festive hubbub has died down. Thank you all for reading and supporting this newsletter this past year, and have a safe and restful end of 2024!

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Over the years I have been slowly building my candy repertoire. Marshmallows were the gateway confection, followed by caramels, toffee, nougat, pȃte de fruit, and now fudge. All cooking and baking is transformational; but few things make me feel more like an alchemist than manipulating a bubbling sugar syrup into something creamy, chewy, bouncy, fudgy, crunchy. Magic!

Fudge is a crystalline confection, meaning that it depends on sugar crystal formation to achieve the proper structure. The size of the crystals determines the final texture of the candy: lots of small, tiny crystals make a smooth, creamy fudge; whereas large crystals translate to a grainy fudge. To encourage the correct size crystals to form, we need to vigorously agitate the fudge when it reaches the ideal temperature. This interactive element of fudge cookery makes it an especially fun candy project, especially on a lazy winter day.

Before jumping into the recipe, let’s go over the four steps of making fudge: cooking, cooling, creaming, and casting.

Step 1: Cooking

Fudge starts with a handful of basic pantry ingredients, primarily sugar, milk, butter, and (in today’s case) chocolate¹. They are cooked together on the stovetop to the soft-ball stage to make a super-saturated sugar syrup. Because fudge contains a high amount of dairy, it’s important to stir the syrup while cooking to avoid scorching. Some recipes will call for no stirring once the syrup comes to a boil; but after having tried both ways I definitely advocate for stirring, unless you want to spend way too much time scrubbing a burnt pot. Both the dairy and a small amount of invert sugar in the recipe help prevent the mixture from crystallizing too early.

Step 2: Cooling

Once the syrup has reached temperature, it needs to cool undisturbed before agitation. This ensures that the sugar crystals that form will be nice and small for a melt-in-your-mouth, creamy fudge. If the mixture is stirred earlier, the crystals will be larger and the fudge grainier and crumblier. To speed up the cooling process and avoid overcooking, I dunk the bottom of the pot into a pot of cool water as soon as it hits temperature.

Step 3: Creaming

When the syrup has cooled to the target temperature, it’s time to agitate (or cream, as the professionals say) the fudge! In a home setting, this step is usually done either by hand or with an electric mixer. I’m partial to stirring, then “kneading” the fudge by scraping it onto a clean work surface, spreading it out, and folding it over itself. It’s a process similar to the “tabling” method of tempering chocolate. The reason I like this method is that I think it’s easier than stirring a viscous syrup (which gets tiring pretty fast), and it’s gentler than an electric mixer, giving you more control over the final texture. Bonus: it’s fun! If your kids are anything like mine, they’ll be begging to assist:

(If you want some inspiration from the pros, check out this video of fudge creaming by a candymaker from Greenwich village!)

Step 4: Casting

Once the fudge starts to thicken and hold its shape, it’s time to mold it. For this recipe, I recommend either a 8x4” loaf pan or 8x8” pan, depending on how you’re planning to gift or serve it. If using a loaf pan, you’ll end up with a ~2” block that you can slice into bars for gifting. An 8x8” pan will yield a 1” thick slab, great for cutting into small squares.

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Today’s recipe for classic chocolate fudge is available below for paid subscribers. To access the recipe as well as all 60+ past recipes in the archive, consider upgrading to a paid subscription for $5/month. Thank you for supporting my work!

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Classic Chocolate Fudge

Makes one 8x4” (8 bars) or 8x8” pan (64 1-inch pieces)