Melts in Your Mouth and Your Hand

Eating my grandmother's homemade fudge until I got a stomachache was practically a holiday tradition for me when I was a child. I can still vividly remember sneaking the little chocolate pieces out of their cookie tins, where they were neatly stacked between layers of wax paper. Although I'm older, I could probably still take on an entire tin of fudge and have a hard time stopping until my stomach cries "Uncle".



My grandma doesn't really make fudge anymore, but last year she gave me the recipe that she got off of a can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk decades ago. It's exceedingly simple and the results are amazing; the fudge is creamy, chewy, and succulent. Variations are endless, and you can even adjust how milk chocolate-y you want it to taste; for more, use more milk chocolate chips and for less, use more semisweet chocolate chips.



Foolproof Chocolate Fudge
Makes 81 one-inch cubes

1 3/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1 3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Dash of salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (or other nuts, toffee bits, miniature M&M's, etc.)

In a heavy saucepan over low heat, melt chips with sweetened condensed milk and salt. Stir often; remove from heat and stir in walnuts and vanilla. Spread evenly into wax-paper-lined 9-inch square pan. Chill 2 hours or until firm.

Turn fudge onto cutting board; peel off paper and cut into squares. Store loosely covered at room temperature.