i should have known better

I once again reign victorious in my own kitchen. Determined not to be beaten by marshmallow and chocolate chips, I turned to my good old friend The Southern Living Cookbook.

She has been my trusted friend through many a culinary quandary. Some of my most complimented recipes come from her yellowing pages. Year after year she has never let me down, yet I overlooked her completely in favor of the flashy charm of the internet. I had the information I needed well within reach, but I snubbed her for a new and decidedly fickle friend.

The fudge recipe she was so willing to share with me turned out this time. It was even easier to make than the failed pile of poo I got last time. I asked her if I can share her secrets with you and she loyally obliged.

Fast Fudge

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter
12 large marshmallows
few grains of salt
1 (6 oz) package of semisweet chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring gently; boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Add chocolate morsels to marshmallow mixture, stirring until melted. Add pecans and vanilla, stirring well. Spread evenly in a buttered 8-inch square pan. Cool and cut into squares. Yield: 2 pounds.

A couple of quick notes:

• 2/3 cup evaporated milk is NOT the whole can
• 6 oz of chocolate morsels is NOT the whole bag

You are going to have to measure.

My brother gave me the cookbook a l.o.n.g time ago. It is by far my favorite cookbook and the first one I  check for a recipe when I am not blinded by the Internet. It has a copyright date of 1987. Clearly we were toddlers when he gave it to me. :)

It is also important to note here, that Greg tasted the fudge and mentally measured it against his grandma's fudge. In that arena I was not so victorious. He told me to just ask her for the recipe. But hey, it set up this time - mostly.