Pastora Nancy's Amish Christmas Fudge

For our family one of the special Christmas traditions has been Nancy's many Christmas candies. People send back the empty candy tins and buy big bags of chocolate for her to make it again next year!! This is one of the three most popular of her treats. The secret though is not in the recipe but in the love and amazing attention to detail she adds. It is her way of saying, "I love you!" That is what Christmas is all about...












Creamy-Sure Fudge


2/3 cup evaporated milk (small can)
16 regular or 160 miniature marshmallows
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) margarine
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup coarsely-chopped walnuts ( optional)




Butter a 8X8 inch pan. In a medium saucepan, over low heat, melt the margarine. Stir in the salt, milk, sugar, and lastly the marshmallows.  Try to melt the marshmallows before the mixture comes to a boil, pressing them against the sides of the pan.  Slowly bring the mixture to a boil over a low heat.  Stirring constantly, simmer mixture for 5-6 minutes, or until the sweet smell is almost gone.  The mixture will rise in the pan, then go down.  
Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla, then the chocolate chips.  Stir until chips melt. Lastly, add the nuts. With a rubber spatula, transfer to prepared pan, spread it evenly and allow to cool.  Place in the refrigerator until fully set and hard.  I use a silicone pan which makes it easy to remove the fudge onto a wax paper lined cutting board.  I then cut the fudge into 64 pieces (8 rows horizontally and 8 rows diagonally).  Yields approx. 2 Lbs.