Peppermint White Chocolate Fudge #improvcookingchallenge

One of my favorite family traditions for Christmas comes from my time as a child, when my Grandma taught me to make fudge! We would spend a full day making all different flavors and make up big trays to hand out to all of our family members.

It was something that everyone looked forward to each year. Grandma's peanut butter and chocolate fudge became a staple in the kitchen for about a month (unless you had a crazy sweet tooth and ate it all fast).

It can be such a tedious process to make a good fudge. It is so much easier if you have a partner to help you with the stirring (which I will get to later).

This is something that I plan to pass down to my kids when they are old enough. Right now they are only 7 and 4, and I am not comfortable with them working on the stove for this process. I cannot wait until I can teach them what my Grandma taught me.

So, this month, we are again collaborating with the Improv Cooking Challenge, and this month the two ingredients are Peppermint and Chocolate! Perfect for the month of December!!

I decided to stick with my traditions, but give it a little twist by doing Peppermint White Chocolate fudge, yum! I mean you really cannot think of Christmas without thinking of Candy Canes, right?

(Honestly, I personally do not like candy canes, but boy do my kids!!)

This recipe is pretty easy, ingredient wise, but does take some muscles when it comes to stirring the ingredients together.

Peppermint White Chocolate Fudge
Makes approx 50 pieces

Ingredients:
1 Can Jet Puffed Marshmallow Creme
3 cups of white sugar
3/4 cup of melted butter
1 small can of evaporated milk (2/3 cups)
1 package of Hershey Candy Cane Kisses (unwrapped)
1 tsp vanilla
2 aluminum trays

So to start, you want to make sure that you are using a large saucepan (like the ones you use to make a huge pot of noodles). Mine got damaged, so I ended up using my Wok!

You want to make sure that all of your ingredients are ready to use before you start. Take the lid off the marshmallow, have the chocolate ready, vanilla measured out.

The process once you remove from the heat is something that needs to be done right then, no time for breaks.

Combine the sugar, butter and evaporated milk into  the pan, and bring to a boil. You need to constantly stir the mixture to make sure it doesn't burn.

When it comes to a full, roiling boil, set a timer for 5 minutes and vigorously stir while it continues to boil, continuing to stir.

Once the timer ends, remove from the heat.

Immediately stir in the marshmallow creme, and stir until it is completely melted in.

You then want to add in the chocolate kisses, and then the vanilla. continuing to stir stir stir.

(This is about the time that I hand it over to my husband to help me stir. My arm gets tired so he gets his man power into it and makes sure it is completely mixed.)

Once you have it all completely combined, you want to immediately pour this mix into two 9"x9" aluminum trays and get them into the fridge.

Let it set up in the fridge for about 3 hours. If you take it out sooner then it won't set correctly, which means that it will be crumbly and/or will turn too soft. You want to be able to cut it up with a butter knife.

To give as gifts, you can make up some platters with your favorite holiday cookies and fudge and hand them out to your family and friends, or pass out little treat boxes of the fudge to those who stop by. They are bound to fall in love with this yummy treat, as I am sure you will too.

Happy Holidays everyone!!

Don't forget to check out what the other Improv Cooking Challenge folks are doing:

An InLinkz Link-up