Holiday Ribbon Fudge

With every mishap comes a brilliant ray of hope and renewal. Look for my adventures with popstacks and Lebkuchen to be posted soon. That aside, I have found my new favorite thing to make: Fudge. This is not your grandmother's recipe and no, it's not the best you've ever tasted, at least I hope not, but it will make you appear a much better kitchen master than you really are. I recently suggested this to one of my friends that has more kids than time. I swear it only takes about 10 min, not including cooling time.

I was in some grocery store or another a few weeks ago. I never seem to shop at the same one. Anyway, I passed by a center aisle display of holiday baking supplies. I did a double take and walked a few steps backward. One of the condensed milk cans was facing the wrong way and I had glimpsed a recipe on the back. Chocolate and Eagle Brand for fudge? I had never heard of that combination but it started me thinking. It made sense, I mean after all you make ganache with cream and chocolate, hell, even truffles in the right proportions. I had to try it.

I really have no idea what the recipe on the can actually was. Nowadays I usually only glance at the ingredients to decide whether I can make/would like something like that or not. The only thing stuck in my mind was chocolate and sweetened condensed milk. Making cream pies has its benefits. I had 14oz of sweetened condensed milk in my freezer at home. All I needed was the chocolate. I choose milk chocolate thinking that semi-sweet would be too strong. Looking back, semi-sweet would have been fine, especially for fudge lovers.

The day I made my first batch I was in a particularly strong holiday mode. Instead of using all of the milk chocolate that I had purchased for this occasion I opted to festively color some white baking chocolate or almond bark. It's super easy. Just melt down the blocks or chips, drip in some coloring and layer into a wax paper lined baking dish. I have since made some chocolate/peanut butter fudge using this same method. It was a hit. Both batches came out silky and dense with a hint of milky flavor. Below is the recipe for holiday ribbon fudge but feel free to experiment with different flavor combinations.

Makes ~2 lbs of fudge

1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk, divided
1 (11oz) bag of milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (11oz) bag of white chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract, divided
red food coloring
green food coloring
wax paper

1. Line an 8x8" baking dish with wax paper. Set aside.
2. In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine half of the condensed milk and the milk chocolate chips. Don't worry about stirring at this point.
3. Heat for 30 sec intervals in the microwave on HIGH until melted. Stir well after each interval. If the mixture becomes clumpy, add solid vegetable shortening in 1/2 tsp increments until the mixture becomes fluid and glossy.
4. In a separate bowl, repeat for melting the white chocolate.
5. Stir 1/2 tsp vanilla into each bowl.
6. To the white chocolate add 3-4 drops of each food coloring. Stir very slightly (1 or 2 circles of the bowl) with a knife. The colors will ribbon as you pour it into the prepared pan.
7. Begin layering the chocolate mixtures into the prepared dish. Do not stir. Just pour one on top of the other. Keep in mind that the bottom of the dish will be the top of the fudge.
8. Once all chocolate as been poured in, rap the dish on the counter several times to settle the fudge.
9. Cover the surface of the fudge with wax paper.
10. Let cool completely at room temperature, 2-3 hours.
11. Once cooled and set, turn the dish upside down and slowly pull the fudge out using the wax paper to grip.
12. Remove all paper and place the fudge bottom side up on a cutting surface.
13. Cut into small squares.
14. Store covered at room temperature.