Margee's Fudge

My grandma Margee is an excellent cook with several specialties - and every time I try to make one of her recipes, it is just not the same as when she makes it. Doesn't it usually turn out that way when you try to make someone else's signature dish?? Especially with older, handwritten recipes, when you just know there's more to it than what's written down.

Of course, if you go and change the recipe on purpose, yet expect it to have the same qualities as Grandma's, you're going to be in for a surprise! I always do that to myself... The results are always fine and good, but I've decided that no matter what, nothing is better than the real thing when what you want is the real thing. (The exact brands of ingredients may have something to do with it too... Remind me to ask Margee which chocolate she uses...)

That's why everyone looks forward to Christmastime when Margee makes tons of her homemade fudge and passes it around in tins collected over the years, with wax paper in between the layers of chocolate fudge with pecan halves or pieces on each irregular (but perfect) rectangle piece.

My reason this time for altering the recipe is that I didn't have too much chocolate in my cupboard (wha???? it was true), and I had some white chocolate that I never had a reason to use. So I made Chocolate-White Chocolate Swirl Fudge. I made this as a thank you token for some friends, and it got great reviews. But they've never tasted Margee's.

Margee's Original Chocolate Fudge
Margaret Waldrop

18 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
1 jar marshmallow fluff
2 cups chopped pecans (optional)
1 t. vanilla
4 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/8 t. salt
13 oz. evaporated milk

Butter a 12x7" pan. In a saucepan, put sugar, butter, salt, and evaporated milk. Stir 20 minutes until softball stage (236 degrees). Remove from heat and add marshmallow fluff, nuts (if using), vanilla, and chocolate. Beat until thick, then pour into prepared pan to cool. Once cool, cut into pieces.

-In stead of stirring in the nuts, Margee places pecan halves on the fudge while it's cooling in the pan so they stick. I think she estimates one piece of pecan for each square and cuts the pieces of fudge accordingly once it's cool.

-Chocolate-White Chocolate Fudge variation: Use 9oz. semi-sweet chocolate and 9oz. white chocolate. After combining all ingredients except the chocolate, divide the mixture into two bowls and add the dark chocolate to one bowl and white to the other. Layer them in the pan and swirl with a knife.