Fantasy (ish) Maple Nut Fudge 2.0

 

When I first came up with my maple nut fudge recipe, I thought it could use a little more “oomph” but I took it to my tester (my mom), who was a maple fudge fiend, and she told me to keep it exactly as is.  And you don’t argue with mom!   But this year as I was deciding on the treats to make for the holidays, I played around and came up with something I liked even more than my original Fantasy (ish) Maple Nut Fudge recipe.  It’s mostly the same ingredients but with a few tweaks.  If you like a mild vanilla/maple flavor, my original recipe is the one you should stick with.  But if you want a richer, mapley-er fudge, my new Fantasy (ish) Maple Nut Fudge 2.0 is the recipe you’ll want.

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I still wanted to use the old fantasy fudge basic recipe because in my opinion, you can’t go wrong with that recipe.  But one of the things I thought could improve from the original recipe is the color.  The white chocolate chips made it a very light color and I always think of maple fudge as more of a tan/beige color.  I wondered what would happen if I substituted some of the sugar with dark brown sugar.  Hmm…   And I always thought the original recipe could be a little stronger in the maple flavor so I went a little wild and more than doubled the amount of maple flavoring I put in the original recipe.

The results?  Fabulous!  It came out even better than I had hoped.  I only wish my mom was still here with us to share this new recipe with her.  I think she’d go crazy over it.  So here is my new Fantasy (ish) Maple Nut Fudge 2.0 recipe.  

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 3/4 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 3 tbsp maple extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 12 oz white chocolate chips
• 7 oz jar of Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme
• 12 oz chopped walnuts (optional)

Here’s what you’ll do:

• In a medium size pan, put a stick and a half of butter (3/4 cup) over a medium heat. 
• When it is melted, add the 2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of brown sugar, and 2/3 cup of evaporated milk. 
• Stir it all together and keep an eye on it, stirring periodically but not constantly. 
• When it starts a good rolling boil, set the timer for 5 minutes and stir constantly.
• Remove the pan from the burner (it is very hot!)
• Add the 3 tbsp of maple extract and 1/4 tsp of salt, and stir.
• Add the white chocolate chips and marshmallow crème.  Stir until it is all melted and smooth. 
• Add the nuts (optional) and stir to make sure all ingredients are incorporated. 
• Pour into a 9×13 pan.  You want to work fairly fast because the cooler it gets, the thicker it gets.  This fudge sets up fast!
• Refrigerate until completely cool.

Cutting into squares:

When I was cutting the fudge this year, I found a new way that worked great!  I left it in the pan and used my bench scrape. Of course if you don’t have a bench scrape, you don’t need to go out and buy one.  A knife works fine.  But you’ll find this little gadget throughout my recipes.  I use it all the time and love it!

I hope you like my new Fantasy (ish) Maple Nut Fudge 2.0 recipe.  And I hope you all have a wonderful New Year!

Happy tinkering,

Susan