Happy St. Patrick’s Day (yesterday)!

We had party with my mom’s side of the family  yesterday, and, as always, it was a ton of fun. The amazing weather didn’t hurt, either! Who would have thought we could be sitting outside in the middle of March???

While I didn’t snap any pictures at the actual party, I do have a great recipe that I brought to the party. I’m not even going to pretend that there is anything remotely healthy about this recipe – that’s partially why it’s so good 😉

Homemade Fudge (E, N, GF)
fills one 8×8-inch pan

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp. light corn syrup
1/4 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Grease an 8×8-inch pan with cooking spray, and drape parchment paper along the sides.
   
2. Combine the first 5 ingredients (granulated sugar through milk) in a saucepan. Melt the ingredients together over medium heat.
   
3. Bring to a soft boil for about one minute, stirring constantly so the mixture doesn’t burn.
   
4. Take the pan off the heat, and add the vanilla extract.
5. Lower the heat, and place the saucepan back over it. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, stirring in between each cup.
   
6. Pour the fudge into the prepared 8×8 pan, and allow to cool.
   
7. To cut into pieces, simply run a knife along the edges of the fudge that are touching the pan (to loosen it), and lift it out using the parchment paper strips.
8. Cut into whatever size you want, and enjoy!

Notes:
– It is important to cut the butter into cubes, as it will melt quicker. This way, there is less time for the other ingredients to burn.
– Light corn syrup does not mean that it has less calories (unfortunately). That just refers to the color 🙂
– I actually used skim milk and Land-O-Lakes reduced calorie butter, and it turned out just fine! Using those two ingredients make up for the fact that this recipe has four cups of sugar. 😉
– Let me know if you have any questions about the parchment paper trick – my explanation is kind of confusing, but I hope the picture makes more sense.
– You want to make sure to take the pan off the heat (just by lifting it, or sliding it off that burner) when you add the vanilla extract. The extract has alcohol in it, and there is a chance it might catch fire. Better safe than sorry! It’ll bubble up when you add it, but returning it to the heat immediately is just fine.
– I cut the fudge into 1-inch pieces, but you can do whatever size you want!
– This recipe makes verrry sweet fudge. If you’re not into super sweet sweets, I’d cut back on the amount of powdered sugar, and increase the amount of cocoa powder. Just experiment until you find the right combination for your liking!
– Store the fudge in an air-tight container, separating each layer with squares of parchment paper. I highly recommend putting it in the freezer, first of all, to prevent it from getting too melty or stale, and secondly because it is amazing frozen!

Variations:
– For our St. Patrick’s Day party, I wanted to add some green. My mom had the great idea of putting an Andes mint on top. I decided to take it one step further, and mix in some mints, too.  The following is a variation to the above recipe:

* Chop up some Andes mints (I used 18 of them), and place them in the freezer until you are ready to use them.

* Follow all of the directions up to step 6. After you stir in the powdered sugar, but before you pour the fudge in the pan, add the chopped mints.
* Pour the fudge into the pan, and allow to cool before you enjoy.
* As added decoration, and for everyone else to know that this pan of fudge is mint flavored, chop a few more mints, and put the pieces on top of the fudge. I would wait to do this step until the fudge is completely cooled, so the decoration doesn’t melt on top.