Absurdly Easy Chocolate Fudge

Summertime, for me at least, means fudge. It doesn't require baking (and heating up the kitchen), and I prefer it when it is stored in the fridge. I actually made this on the 14th for a friend back home. I sent off most of the fudge, and have reports that it kept wonderfully on its journey, and is now mostly gone. Quick consumption: the mark of a job well done. Yay!

This recipe is for chocolate fudge at it's simplest. Hopefully, when I gain access to more ingredients, I'll do a rocky-road fudge (my personal favorite), or a chocolate-swirl, or a peanut-butter-swirl... The possibilities are endless, which I think is part of the reason I adore fudge so. I made 1.5 times what the recipe called for, but that was only because we ran out of chocolate chips. Tragedy!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cans (14 oz each) sweetened condensed milk.

6 tablespoons butter, softened

4.5 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or any kind of chip, really. The chocolates, peanut butter, butterscotch, etc. It's up to you!)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

----

Firstly, prepare your mold for the fudge. I used a deep cookie sheet because I like thin fudge and I couldn't find a clean casserole pan. Butter the surface, and cover the sides with a nice large piece of plastic wrap. The butter helps keep the wrap in place while pouring, and the plastic makes fudge extraction easy.

Fix a double boiler, making sure the water doesn't contact the top pan, and that the water just lightly simmers. Combine the condensed milk and butter, stirring until the butter melts. Add in the chocolate chips gradually, mixing until the chips melt. Once liquified and to the softball stage, pour in the vanilla, and just mix until incorporate. Watch that it doesn't seize, but I had no problem with that.

Pour the fudge into the mold, lightly shaking the pan back and forth to evenly spread the fudge. Put in the fridge for at least two hours, until set. After it sets, it should be good if left out at room temperature, but if the weather is particularly warm, just keep it in the fridge.

~The Baker's Apprentice/Chef A

Edit: Picture added, and a Rocky Road fudge recipe might be coming up shortly, since we now have marshmallows and walnuts stocked. Get excited!