Yes, Virginia ... there is a national holiday just for FUDGE!!

Did you know that TODAY is National Fudge Day?  I personally don’t need an excuse to enjoy fudge. And I certainly wouldn’t wait for a holiday to indulge.  The National Confectioners Association website actually lists dates of all candy holidays. I have added every single one of these dates to my calendar and am sending a note to our H.R. department to seriously consider adopting them as paid holidays!

My fondest memories are of me and my Grandma Ollie standing at the stove and stirring together the ingredients of this luscious candy.  There is a trick to making fudge ... at least the old fashioned way.  You have to let the candy mixture get to just that perfect temperature and then you add butter and vanilla and beat the heck out of it ... and I mean beat and beat and beat it until it looses the gloss and starts to harden - and look out, because it will harden in a matter of seconds and then you're stuck with half of the mixture still in the pot.  Then other times it seems to NEVER harden and the results are what they used to call "spoon candy".  Today most young chefs think that fudge is made with a few bags of chocolate chips and a can of sweetened milk ... yeah ... right ... not in my kitchen!!  You will NEVER get that perfect batch of SMOOTH  chocolate heaven by choosing the easy route.  So how many of you have made fudge the old fashioned way (and have the carpel tunnel to prove it??!!)