12-minute Christmas Fudge

I make fudge every Christmas because, well, we all love it and I love giving it away. This year has been particularly busy AND as a result, I got this post out late, but you can make this fudge any time of year.

I wanted to find a way to streamline the the kitchen duties for making the fudge without giving up the yummy taste! With the help of Cook’s Illustrated, I modified a recipe they had tried out (15-minute Fudge) and came up with a winner both in taste and time-saving techniques.

I got the process down to 12 minutes, so here’s my take on it. Try out this 12-minute Christmas Fudge and see if you don’t agree. It’s truly fudgelicious!

What you’ll need:
- 12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate, chopped up (see notes below)
- 2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon of salt
- 1 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
- 1 cup of walnuts, chopped

What to do:

1. Gather your ingredients (1 minute)
2. Line a 8-inch square pan with heavy duty foil and spray with non-fat cooking spray (or any cooking spray). (2 minutes)
3. Mix the chocolate with the baking soda and salt and put into a medium heatproof bowl or pot. Stir in the condensed milk. (3 minutes)
4. Put mixture in another pot with 2 cups of simmering water – use it like a dutch oven – and stir chocolate mixture until melted. (3 minutes)
5. Remove from heat and stir for another minute and then gently fold in the chopped walnuts (2 minutes)
6. Transfer fudge to your prepared pan and spread out evenly. Put the fudge in the fridge for a couple of hours before cutting up and giving it away. (1 minute)

Total prep time is 12 minutes! See the notes below to see how I cut time without cutting flavor!

I’m no photographer by any stretch of the imagination, but I have fun with my iPhone taking pics along the way to show you how easy it is to make this fudge! Top photo credit goes to NutsOnLine.com. Many thanks!

Chocolate pieces ready to be melted.

Add in the condensed milk and melt away.

Look how pretty that melted chocolate looks. Rich and creamy.

Add the nuts! Yum!

Christmas Fudge ready to be cut and devoured!

Notes:

1. Instead of buying the big bars of chocolate that you would need to chop up, buy sweetened and unsweetened chocolate chips. They melt faster and there’s no fussy mess to clean up after chopping chocolate.
2. Buy chopped walnuts instead of whole walnuts. Saves a minute or two and it adds up!
3. Don’t have vanilla extract handy? You can use hazelnut or almond extract instead. Adds a subtly different flavor to the fudge.
4. Use macadamia nuts instead of walnuts if you like.

It’s hard to go wrong with this fudge. Just don’t over cook it. It only takes a minute or two to melt it over simmering water. Enjoy!

For more great ideas for small bites, visit my site, Easy Appetizer Recipes.