I messed up the fudge...

[Wishing on a star]

My mom always made the best home-made fudge at Christmas!!!
The old fashioned kind, like the recipe on the Hershey's Cocoa container.
Not the instant 'creamy' fudge.

The trick to that kind of fudge is to boil and mix, testing by letting a big drop drip into a glass of cold water.
When this begins to harden into a ball and sinks to the bottom, then the amount of crystalized sugar to the amount of liquid is good enough to harden.

MAN, I am going to have to try to make some of this fudge.
Last year my sister made a lot of candy and gave me some.

 

[luvsJack]

My mom always made the best home-made fudge at Christmas!!!
The old fashioned kind, like the recipe on the Hershey's Cocoa container.
Not the instant 'creamy' fudge.

The trick to that kind of fudge is to boil and mix, testing by letting a big drop drip into a glass of cold water.
When this begins to harden into a ball and sinks to the bottom, then the amount of crystalized sugar to the amount of liquid is good enough to harden.

MAN, I am going to have to try to make some of this fudge.
Last year my sister made a lot of candy and gave me some.

Mom and I used to make that kind every year. My sister still does. I am always hard pressed to find a day that the weather is just right to harden.

These days for most candy recipes I google “easy” or “quick” whatever candy I want to make and find some great recipes!!

The fudge the op made, really is very good. My coworkers were so impressed that I made fudge. One was offering to pay me to make some so I had to break down and give her the recipe lol.

 

[1GoldenSun]

I melted in a LOT more chocolate chips in and this time it set. I still had a hard time cutting it. The "squares" are kind of "blobby" rather than being nice and neat and, well, square.

But I chose the neatest, squarest looking pieces to give away and my family is happy to eat the ugly ones!

Also, re-pouring the fudge gave me the chance to add some stuff to it this time. I made one pan of plain, one Rocky Road with walnuts and mini marshmallows, and one with pistachios and Craisins. Delicious!

 

[Imzadi]

The "squares" are kind of "blobby" rather than being nice and neat and, well, square.

Are you heating the fudge long enough? It doesn't sound like, as a PP said, the chocolate isn't heated high enough to be properly tempering and forming crystals.

 

[1GoldenSun]

Are you heating the fudge long enough? It doesn't sound like, as a PP said, the chocolate isn't heated high enough to be properly tempering and forming crystals.

Probably not. I only heated it until the chocolate chips had melted. That's likely the problem.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

 

[luvsJack]

Probably not. I only heated it until the chocolate chips had melted. That's likely the problem.

I put the chips in the bowl, poured the milk over and melted in 30 second intervals, stirring at the end of each, in the microwave until smooth. Then poured in the prepared pans and stuck in the fridge. Next morning took them out and cut into squares.

Not sure how else it would be done. I use chocolate chips or other flavored chips in a lot of candy and melt it the same way. It always sets. Which is the reason I got away from the whole boiling ingredients to the soft ball stage or hard ball or whichever. Too many times those don’t set properly.

 

[snowwite]

Pour into a jar and call it ice cream fudge topping.

That’s my suggestion too!

 

[SirDuff]

Probably not. I only heated it until the chocolate chips had melted. That's likely the problem.

Honestly, I doubt it. You weren't trying to temper the chocolate, so no need to worry about achieving the right temperature for that. It wasn't "boiled sugar" fudge, so no worries about reaching the right hard ball or soft ball or whatever stage. There really isn't a temperature that you needed to reach (other than, as you say, enough to melt everything and allow it to mix together).

Is it possible that your can of condensed milk was larger than normal? Probably not (I assume you are in the US), but I live in Europe and can never just use a can of condensed milk (or other things) in recipes since the cans are not the same size as is standard in the US.

 

[1GoldenSun]

I didn't refrigerate it before I cut it. Maybe that was the problem.

 

[luvsJack]

I didn't refrigerate it before I cut it. Maybe that was the problem.

Could be.

I make chocolate covered peanuts and they are only choc chips and peanuts. I have to refrigerate them. I was told they would set without it but I do until they set and then they can be stored in a container.

 

[_19disnA]

Cooked sugar recipes are totally different from melting chocolate with some evaporated milk. Chips will solidify once they get back to room temperature unless too much liquid was added. Cooked sugar recipes require the use of a candy thermometer. While some people have success putting hot blobs of sugar in ice water, that is not nearly precise enough to get consistent results. Also need a proven recipe that says "cook until sugar reaches X degrees". If the recipe just says to 'boil for Y minutes', you will never get consistent results. Humidity is more likely to affect cooked sugar recipes vs. melting chocolate chips which are more forgiving.

 

[luvsJack]

Cooked sugar recipes are totally different from melting chocolate with some evaporated milk. Chips will solidify once they get back to room temperature unless too much liquid was added. Cooked sugar recipes require the use of a candy thermometer. While some people have success putting hot blobs of sugar in ice water, that is not nearly precise enough to get consistent results. Also need a proven recipe that says "cook until sugar reaches X degrees". If the recipe just says to 'boil for Y minutes', you will never get consistent results. Humidity is more likely to affect cooked sugar recipes vs. melting chocolate chips which are more forgiving.

The thing with the chips is that it may depend on the temp of your kitchen. Too warm and it may take to long to solidify. Chilling it in the fridge does work.

Funny you say that about the cooked sugar recipes. I can’t do it without a thermometer, and I think my sis uses one too. My mom didn’t. She learned to make candy from her mom and never used one. They could get that exact stage every time. But it does also require low humidity, so here there can be whole seasons where it won’t work.

I think the recipe I used was 3 cups of chips and a can of milk. I do know it said a bag and a half of the chips which I thought was funny because there are at least 3 different sizes of bags of chocolate chips.