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~steve (east tn) ~steve (east tn) is offline
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Default Fudge that won't get hard?!? Help! Please!!

Hi All:
Sorry for such a newbie question, but i was 'helping' my darling wife of
35 years make some fudge for the holidays. The fudge tastes great, and
it is thick, but will not set up hard enough to cut and serve. we would
like to have some homemade peanut butter fudge for family gatherings for
the holidays.

What did we do wrong?

Recipe:
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1- 12 ox jar chunky peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup evaporated milk
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup margarine

Combine milk, sugar, margarine in heavy skillet on medium heat until
boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add marshmallows,
peanut butter, and vanilla. Blend well and turn into a buttered pan and
chill. Cut and serve.

We followed the recipe closely and it all went off without a hitch. we
were completely stumped as to what we did wrong. my wife confesses she
has tried fudge in the past and it always failed to harden. the
ingredients were fresh (as i munch some marshmallows between typing
--just to make sure they are ok, of course.)

Items we can think of:
1) we used real butter instead of margarine (my prime suspect)
2) the mixture was boiling all over, but we did not cook it very long.
there was plenty of heat and time to pour and melt the marshmallows, so
it was hot enough. we stirred with wooden spoon. no scorching.
3) we stirred the full mixture until the marshmallows were melted and
the mixture appeared smooth. i don't think we stirred too much or
whipped the mixture to death.
4) we used JIF p-butter. might have added a little too much, but not
more than a measured tablespoon or so. it was fresh and had some oil as
is common with quality p-butter.
5) we used a stainless steel sauce pan, not an iron skillet and poured
the hot stuff into a Pyrex bowl with the other stuff waiting
6) obviously we could have mismeasured something, but i don't think we
missed it much. and it tastes too good to be far off-- at least in my
opinion.
7) there is a typo in the recipe. it was one of those everyone bring
your recipe's and we'll sell it as a book collection of from a
relative's church.

--while i am newbie to cooking groups, i have been active in several
other newsgroups and i want to thank you resident experts in advance for
helping a newbie trying to get started in the kitchen. please excuse
any violations of group rules with this post. oh, if i picked the wrong
newsgroup, please point me in the right direction and i'll go away.

thanks ever so much for your time and attention,
~steve
---remove the CANofSPAM from the return address if you want to reply
directly. you may dispose of the spam anyway you wish....

(i have recently become disabled and am finally able to join wifey in
the kitchen, so i don't much about cooking much paste boiling water.
still working on cracking an egg without getting shell in the mix...
i spent over 30 years working as an engineer so i pay a lot of attention
to details)