As newlyweds facing our first Christmas in our new home, we both wanted to bring a bit of our own Christmas memories into this special holiday. While my memories involved things like banana nut bread and pecan coffee cake, my husband’s mother had kept their holidays filled with all kinds of family heirloom special treats and homemade candies. One of his favorites was the chocolate fudge she made—perfectly creamy and smooth, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. And so the search began.
For our first few Christmases, he tried all kinds of fudge recipes from people at work, neighbors, and my Southern Living magazine. We taste-tested all kinds of his creations, and the holidays smelled delicious at our house! He learned all he could about fudge making, even buying a big slab of marble for the pouring of the fudge in its final phases. Another GREAT addition to our kitchen was when he discovered that using a mixer in the beating phase was a key component to creating just the right texture. I was all smiles the day he bought a blue KitchenAid mixer. Oh, the suffering along the way to finding the perfect fudge-making process—sheer delight!
As hard as he tried, he couldn’t get the product to be quite the way he remembered his mom’s fudge. He finally picked up the phone and called her, pen and pad of paper at hand, and asked if she would share her now-famous recipe. When she told him that she always used the recipe on the Hershey Cocoa can, he was stunned. “That’s it? THAT’s the recipe?” He now had just what he needed, and the rest is delicious history.
And we live happily ever after, with his fudge on special occasions, and a big blue KitchenAid mixer on the counter, and big chocolate-loving smiles all around!
- Amanda
Well, I love my Kitchen Aid, fudge and my husband who also adores fudge. For me, I think of fudge around the holidays but in actuality my husband usually buys fudge during the summer months at various places we visit. My mother always used the no-fail fudge recipe that you make with marshmallows while I prefer the one on the Fluff container. I'll have to try the Hershey cocoa recipe.
ReplyDeleteI've made fudge in my Kitchen Aid too but it's so much easier to make fudge that doesn't require beating. (I'm losing weight so there are no plans for fudge making at present.) :)
Thanks for posting, Karen! I love my Kitchen Aid mixer, and I am hearing from so many others that agree with you and I. Some of the best fudge that I've ever tasted (other than my husband's, of course, was at a fudge shop in Ludington, Michigan - just in case your travels take you there. So glad that we love the same things. :)
ReplyDeleteAmanda B.
That looks like my mixer. After 15+ years of marriage, though, I still can't replicate any of my Mother-in-law's recipes. I wish it could be as simple an answer.
ReplyDeleteI know what you're talking about, Jennifer! It helps that my husband loves to cook - particularly his mom's specialties. Since I cook using the smoke detector method, it's a good thing that he married me. Thanks for posting, Jennifer!
ReplyDeleteI love my KA mixer. It just keeps on going and going. That is so funny about the Hersheys.
ReplyDeleteMmmmmm....I'm imagining the smell. There is a place in New Orleans on the river that houses a fudge shop and a praline's shop. That's my idea of what heaven will smell like. Now I'm thinking your house must smell like that at the holidays. What a wonderful husband to create such a scent!
ReplyDeleteLouanne - the Hershey can recipe is tops, and the meandering path of trials and experiments along the way? Well, it still makes me laugh and so does he. :)
ReplyDeletePurplemom, there is NO smell like fudge cooking in the kitchen! I think I know the fudge and praline shops that you're talking about - they are just down the road from the Cafe du Monde, right? Pralines are my husband's other holiday specialty - oo la la delicious! Guess we'll have to hold a virtual holiday cooking party on the blog this year!
ReplyDeleteI have been dreaming of a Kitchen Aid mixer for years now. Don't have one yet, but when I do get it, it will be the purple one they now have. Loved this chocolate story. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kelly - wish I could share some of his fudge! The purple mixer looks AWESOME - I love that they call it "Grape!" :)
ReplyDeleteAmanda B.