the great fudge-off

I’m not talking about who’s the best liar, I’m talking about the good creamy, chocolaty kind of fudge.

This weekend I made 2 different recipes and one was the clear winner.

Recipe #1 was from Marinating Online (a great recent find)
Here’s her recipe:
Simple Fudge
2 ounces of unsalted butter or ½ stick
3 cups marshmallows
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (I used flor de sal)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
12 ounces good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips

Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line with parchment paper or foil. Spray lined pan with non stick spray or butter. (I didn’t use any butter or spray in the pan- just parchment)
In a large saucepan, combine butter, marshmallows, sugar, cream, and salt; cook over medium, stirring occasionally, until marshmallows are melted. Take the pan off heat, stir in vanilla, chocolate chips and stir until chocolate is melted.
Pour fudge into prepared pan, and smooth top. Let cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour.

Recipe #2 was from my friend Emily, but I’ve since seen it online.
12 oz semisweet choc chips
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup chopped pecans toasted
1/2 tsp cardamon (realized I didn’t have and omitted)
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I used 1t)
1/2 tsp cayenne (I used 1t)
original instructions:
line an 8×8″ baking pan with parchment. combine choc chips and sweetened condensed milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 min. stir. microwave for 1 more minute. stir in nuts and spices. pour mixture into baking pan and chill in fridge for 30 min. or until firm.
Emily’s notes:
obviously, you can follow the recipe,or do it however you like, but i never add the nuts– i don’t like nuts in my chocolate. also, i usually increase the amount of spices 150 percent or so, i like it spicy! and, i’ve never done it in the microwave, because i don’t own a microwave, i always do it on the stovetop.

I did both recipes on the stovetop (that seems like a ridiculous statement, but since #2 said microwave, I felt the need to clarify).  I added 1 cup chopped walnuts to both recipes and increased the spices in E’s recipe as she suggested.  The flor de sal was beautiful in the Simple Fudge recipe and I really liked the spices in #2.  I will be going to Penzey’s today to get more cardamon.  In both recipes, I also used dark chocolate melting wafers instead of semi-sweet chips.  The hardest thing about either of these recipes was cutting the parchment paper and getting it to stay in the pan!

The results are in and after having a few folks taste (I had to share the yummy wealth) #1 Simple Fudge recipe was the clear winner.  The texture was smooth and creamy and just melted in your mouth.  I think I’m going to marry these recipes and add some spice to #1 when I make more today (greedy, I know).  Enjoy!