Okay. So. I’ve actually never made just straight up fudge in my life before today. I used to love going to St. Jacobs and getting fudge there, and watching the people make the fudge in that one wicked shop but I don’t remember what the name of it was. There was also a really cool lego store and HUGE things made out of lego. Like mummies and sarcophagi and shit. It was amazing!

But today it happened. Today there was some fudge made. Just regular old fashioned fudge. I don’t even want to get started on how I feel about fudge that has marshmallows or marshmallow fluff or marshmallow creme in it. Let’s just say that if you call your fudge “old fashioned” and then I see the recipe and it has marshmallows of any sort in it, I don’t want to talk to you. Marshmallow fluff was not invented until the 1920’s and fudge originated around the 1880’s, so there’s a good 40 year difference there. Oops I got carried away. I should get back on track…

This fudge, delightfully creamy and rich yet somehow not too sweet, is just a swirled delicious concoction of sugar, cream, butter, and corn syrup. And yes, corn syrup was invented in the 1880’s as well, so this still counts as old fashioned. I also added some wonderfully toasty walnuts and some vanilla.

I’m pretty happy with the results and everyone else at work seemed to be in agreement.

When I first cut it up and tried it I felt the vanilla was almost too overwhelming, I wanted it to have more of a creamy taste and less vanilla. But I tried it again a few hours later and it actually tastes much better after sitting. The walnuts add such a good toasty nutty flavour, and the texture of this fudge is really good in my opinion. Not too soft but not too grainy either. I’m no fudge expert though. And somehow it doesn’t seem overwhelmingly sweet like some tend to. I can eat more than a tiny piece without feeling like I’m developing diabetes, which is great for everyone! Not diabetes, that’s not great for everyone…I meant the sweetness level…I’ll stop now.

Omnomnom. This would be a good thing to add to your list of holiday baking! Do it! I’m going to be experimenting with some more recipes and I’ll most likely post about them, so look out for those too.

Toasted Walnut and Vanilla Fudge

3 cups sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 1/4 cups 10% cream
2T salted butter (or unsalted butter and 1/4 tsp salt)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup of toasted walnut pieces

Grease a 10″ loaf pan and line with parchment paper, set that bitch aside.

Add everything to a medium sized pot except for the vanilla and walnuts, and cook over medium-high heat to 238F without stirring. You can swirl the pot, but don’t stir it. Then remove from the heat and let the temperature drop to 120F. At this point add the vanilla and the walnuts and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until it loses its sheen and starts to thicken up. Quickly get the mixture into your prepared pan, and use plastic wrap to smooth everything down and make it all even and stuff. At this point you could top the fudge with more walnut bits if you wanted. Allow to cool to room temperature before cutting into desired pieces 😀