This million dollar fudge recipe is the best homemade fudge recipe around! This is so easy and soooo yummy your family and friends are sure to love it!
Mom was making fudge this weekend so I just had to share our favorite fudge recipe. This is so easy and soooo yummy! Mom can never make enough! To save on the cost of the Hershey’s we usually buy them on clearance after Halloween.
Enjoy!! Tawra
Grandma’s Million Dollar Fudge
This million dollar fudge recipe makes one of Jill’s favorite Christmas candies, and she makes it every year at Christmas time. It has a creamier texture and a richer fuller flavor than regular fudge because it uses several different kinds of chocolate and some additional ingredients.
Ingredients
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 Tbsp. butter
2 1/2 large Hershey’s candy bars, crushed (about 12–13 oz. total)
1 (12 oz.) bag semi sweet chocolate chips
1 (7 oz.) jar marshmallow cream
1 tsp. vanilla
nuts
Instructions
- Mix the sugar, evaporated milk, and butter.
- Boil 5 minutes.
- Add the remaining ingredients; Beat until well blended.
- Pour into 2 greased 9×13 inch baking pans for thicker pieces or add another 8×8 inch pan for thinner pieces.
Notes
If you would like to experiment with other kinds of chocolate, you can substitute different chocolate as long as the number of ounces of chocolate remains approximately the same.
This Million Dollar Fudge Recipe is from our Dining On A Dime Cookbook, Volume 1.
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Speedy White Fudge Recipe
Ingredients
1 package (1 1/2 lbs.) white candy coating (Almond Bark)
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups gum drops, chopped
Instructions
- Line a 9×9 inch baking pan with foil.
- Melt the Almond Bark, milk and salt over low heat in a medium saucepan (or use a double boiler).
- Remove from heat and add the vanilla and gum drops.
- Spread into the pan.
- Cover and chill.
- Use the foil to lift the fudge from the pan and cut.
Notes
Variations:
- Use different kinds of candies
- Use just red and green or multi colored gum drops.
- Substitute chocolate candy for the white candy and 2 Tbsp. peanut butter or peanut butter chips instead of the gum drops.
To make it easier to cut gum drops, use a pair of kitchen shears dipped in warm water. This works great for cutting anything sticky like marshmallows and candy.
Jill’s Helpful Fudge Tips:
- Before you start, be sure to have your pans all ready, your candy bars crushed, nuts chopped and every package opened and ready to dump in as soon as it is done boiling.
- I use milk chocolate candy bars, but my son-in-law and grandson love dark chocolate so I sometimes use dark chocolate and milk chocolate together. You can even substitute milk chocolate for the semi sweet chips. You can easily tailor it to your own personal preferences.
- Last year after Halloween, my daughter found a good deal on Hershey’s Kisses for 50 cents a bag, so I used those in place of my candy bars. That is why I say stock up after Halloween! The main thing is to have about 24 oz. of some kind of chocolate in the recipe.
- To make my life easier, I line the pan with plastic wrap, parchment paper or something like that and butter it well. Then I lift it out out the pan after it has cooled and use my metal pastry cutter (that has been buttered) to slice it. It works so well! I don’t cut it. I just press straight down with the cutter. There’s no gummy mess like I used to get when I would drag my knife through it.
- Sometimes I allow it to thicken, pour it onto plastic wrap and wrap and roll into logs, then slice.
I’m guessing this a variation on Mamie Eisenhower’s Million Dollar Fudge – she used german chocolate instead of Hershey’s. It really makes no difference to me – it is the VERY BEST fudge I have ever made and eaten. Somehow, tho, it’s been difficult to package it up for gifts as planned – somebody (not me!) keeps sampling.
This is delicious and easy. I would suggest adding the directions stir constantly while boiling to prevent burning.
I made this fudge just last night! I wish I’d had *your* recipe, though, as my mom’s recipe says “1 pint marshmallow creme”… I need ounces! LOL Thanks for posting this…
Meant to add that in our recipe, we use 18 oz of chocolate chips. I think that makes it cheaper. Mom used three 6oz bags…I just used 1 1/2 twelve oz bags.
Wonderful! Can’t wait to try. I will have to go looking today for chocolate bars on sale.
Ooohhh, Million Dollar Fudge! Love it! My Mom had this recipe and we used to make it. This is my favorite fudge hands down! I had lost the recipe and was planning on finding it on the internet. You made it easy for me! LOL!
I’m loving the holiday posts. :)
We will be have more holiday post from now on through Christmas on everything so keep your eyes peeled.
My kids got 5 (Yes, 5!) full size Hershey bars for Trick-Or-Treating this year. I guess I know what’s going in my fudge now…. :)
Last year I put in Chocolate bars with chopped nuts in them and that was yummy too!
Thanks for posting this again – I had written it down a few of years ago and make it every year but my recipe got ‘misplaced’ when I cleaned out my cookbooks this summer. I think my ‘helpful’ 5-year-old may have added it to the recycle pile! LOL!
Cheers, Lea
Lea candy bars with nuts is perfect. I have to make 2 batches each year because 1/2 eat nuts and the other half doesn’t. This isn’t as bad as it sounds because that means I have 2 pans, spoons etc. which I need to lick clean. It is a challenge but I am up to it. I usually try to do it while I am on the phone with one or the other of my grown kids telling them to please excuse the noise but I need to keep licking the pan of fudge. :) :)
One place my recipes don’t get lost is on my computer! Other wise, you can stick it in a smash book. These are the old fashion scrapbooks without all the fancy doodads. I have a cook book with folders to put my recipes in. It all works.
I had to tell you this Jill. Yesterday I went shopping for chocolate bars on sale to make the fudge, and did you know that the “LARGE” Hershey Bars are no longer 6 Ounces? They are now 4.4 Ounces. It’s looks like the Hershey Company is doing what all other companies seem to be doing, by reducing the amount of product, instead of raising prices, or in addition to raising prices, so their CEOS can still make outrageous salaries and bonuses. Poor things. So the 4.4 ounce bars were $1.99 apiece. They weren’t on sale because they can be bought year round, but the smaller bite sized ones were 50% off in bags of 10.78 ounces. They were selling for $1.99 a bag. So since your recipe calls for 15 ounces of chocolate bars I bought 3 bags so I can make a lot of fudge for the holidays. It cost me $5.97 for 32.34 ounces because the candy was 50% off. If I bought the Large bars, which were not on sale, I would have had to buy 4 bars, since they are only 4.4 ounces apiece, and that would have cost me $8.00 for 1/2 the amount I got by buying the on sale smaller ones. Just thought I would pass this info on. Check the ounces of the large bars and see for yourself. You want the right amount of chocolate for the recipe.
Good thinking Bea. I meant to tell everyone you don’t need to do the exact candy bar but you can do any combination of chocolate as long as it is about 15 oz. that can be adjusted slightly too if need be. One year I couldn’t find the candy bars on sale but I could get chocolate chips for $.99 so I used that instead. That is why I like this recipe so well. Besides being so yummy it is very forgiving and near fail proof.
Jill, in the “helpful fudge tips” that follow the recipes (where you mention using chocolate kisses), you say there should be a total of 24 oz. of chocolate. However,
in the recipe itself, you say that the Hershey chocolate should be 6 oz total along with the 12 oz. of chocolate chips. So, is the total actually 24 oz.? Please clarify.
I made this once, loved it, but cannot remember what I did about the total oz. of chocolate.
Sorry Jan it should be 12-13 oz. for the candy bars and just was put in wrong. I fixed it. Thanks for letting me know. You really need about 24 oz of a combination of chocolate candy bars, chips or like the kisses. It is pretty forgiving on the amount of chocolate you add. It doesn’t have to be exact.
when i get to the store and look at them so called hershey bars reduced in size well no more of there brand maybe somebodys else dove maybe nothinghersheys has a diffferent taste now
Thanks for the info Jill. If you use all chocolate chips, then you would need a total of 27 ounces, or approximately that amount. Correct? I can’t wait to make this. I’m sure the people I give it too will be pleased!
Yes around 25 oz. That’s why I said you can really mix and match your chocolate. I got the recipe from my mother in law she used 2 lge. candy bars, 1 lge. package of semi sweet choc. chips and 1 small bag of milk choc. chips where my grandmother in law who gave her the recipe use the 2 1/2 candy bars and 1 lge semi sweet chips which is the one I like best.
So you see you can really more or less use what you like. Like I said too one year I had some dark chocolate candy bars and used those which was good and we got a bunch of hersheys kisses once so just used those. Hope I don’t have you totally confused with too much info.
Thanks! Info much appreciated.
This sounds delicious but being in UK I do not understand what you mean by candy bars. Have you any idea if it is like a hard toffee ? Thank you
i don’t know if you have Hershey chocolate candy bars there or not. What it is is just a creamy chocolate candy bar, the same kind of chocolate you would use to make chocolate chip cookies (or do you call them biscuits?) but the chocolate is in a bar. It might be the same as a sweeten bar of baking chocolate. I’m not sure if I made it worse or better. Holler if that doesn’t make sense.
Thank you so much Jill. We do not have Hershey chocolate this side of the Big Pond. Now I know that it is just chocolate but in a bar I am going to try this with Cadbury`s milk chocolate.Your cookies are our biscuits but a lot of recipes in magazines over here now call them cookies ! Have a great evening. I am going to bed now. Appreciate your help :)
Heather you may not find this till you wake up in the morning. :) but Cadbury milk chocolate bars will work just fine. They are the exact same thing just a different brand.
From what I found searching online, thi is just a kind of milk chocolate with a higher percentage of milk, right? It isn’t those chocolate bars with a white milk filling such as Kinder chocolate?
Neither Cadbury nor hershey exist here save as a novelty (expensive) product.
At worse (or best!) I’ll try several recipes for scientific comparison’s sake.
Ahhh…Kinder chocolate is my absolute favorite…We can get that at our German store locally…YUM!! I believe they would work just fine…
This may be a dumb question, but is marshmallow cream the same as fluff?
Thanks Jill. I have got stocked up on the Cadbury`s chocolate ( had to hide it of course) and now have to order marshmallow stuff online as we do not get it in our grocery stores. Many thanks. Heather
Frenchy – Actually, the types of chocolate are graded by the percent of cacao in them Unsweetened is 85-100% Cacao; Bittersweet or Semi-Sweet ranges between 40% – about 80%; Milk Chocolate is up to 34% Cacao with more milk fat/cacao + sugar; white chocolate has no cacao only the cacao butter plus the milk & sugar. The purer the chocolate, the healthier it is for you, but the more bitter it is. Which is why most of us prefer somewhere in the middle.
Victoria – I think marshmallow FLUFF is a bit different product. I got really confused one time when there was a warning to “avoid marshmallow fluff for those with egg allergies”, as egg is not listed as an ingredient in marshmallow cream. What is sold as marshmallow cream/creme west of the Mississippi is basically “melted” marshmallows. What is sold east of the Mississippi as fluff is more of a spread for sandwiches etc. Not sure how they switch out for each other in a recipe. Might be safer to use regular marshmallows, melt them (I use a large bowl in the microwave at about 50% power), then proceed in recipe. Maybe someone from the east coast could share techniques.
Fluff works fine in tis recipe. It actually was on the back of the marshmallow fluff jar for years. Same product except fluff has a smoother texture.
Jill,
You put me in the mood for Christmas posting your fudge recipe!! Thanks:)
BTW-have you started your gingerbread men yet? I know you said you start making your dough in Sept. usually. I REALLY want to buy some from you this year!!
You and Tawra really help all of us get in the Christmas spirit! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!…just a little early:)
Barb~
What are vanilla nuts?
Sorry it was a typo. Thanks for letting us know.
I am going to try making this tomorrow, but just curious, can you use peanut butter in place of the nuts? I love peanut butter and chocolate together!
Natalie I have never tried it but I think you can. Because you don’t have to cook this recipe to a certain temperature and fiddle with it that much it is hard to mess up and I think you could add almost anything to it if you want.
I wanted to share my 5 minute fudge recipe (a variation of Rachel Ray’s recipe). I’ve been making this for Christmas gifts for nearly 10 years now and every year I get the tins back to refill. Everyone loves it.
1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate morsels
9 ounces (3/4 of a 12-ounce bag) butterscotch morsels
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (8-ounce) can walnut halves
1/2 cup (a couple of handfuls) currants
8-inch cake pan
Directions
Place a heavy pot on the stove and preheat it over low heat. Add chips and milk and stir until chips are melted and milk combined. Save the empty condensed milk can. Stir in vanilla and remove fudge from heat. Add nuts and currants and stir in immediately.
Spoon fudge into pan.The fudge will set up almost immediately. Chill covered in the refrigerator and slice fudge very thin when ready to serve, a little goes a long way.
Why save the empty can? Can you use craisins instead of currents? spray or butter pan? thanks
Mary Jo here’s a link to watch Rachel Ray make this on food network. She uses the empty can to make the fudge into a wreath and the can in the middle wrapped in plastic is the center.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/five-minute-fudge-wreath/video/index.html
I am going to make this today! Here we’re spoilt for choice with Hershey’s as well as Cadbury. I am going to mix the two! There’s a brand of marshmallow-like stuff sold in jars here and they call it “fondant”- it’s not like what I would call fondant, as it is kind of stretchy like marshmallow!
Great idea for the kids, they’ll have a lot of fun helping – and tasting!!
Thanks and Merry Christmas to everyone.
I made some but mine did not turn out well–any suggestions? I am wondering if I messed up by using reeses peanut butter cups instead of Hershey’s chocolate–mine did not set up, but stayed really soft. I did a batch of Reeses & 1 with Butterfinger candy bars, but neither of them set up. Would it be because of the added ingredient (peanut butter)?
Also, have you ever tried candy cane fudge? It’s SO good at the fudge places!
Thanks!
Andrea that probably was what happened. Even though this recipe is pretty hardy, adding the peanut butter could have changed it. It also may have made a difference too that you used the peanut butter cups in place of the Hershey’s. When you add things like that it works better if you make up the fudge as directed then at the very end before pouring into the pan to cool you could just stir in the peanut butter cups or Butterfingers.
How long can I store Million Dollar Fudge to have it stay good?
I have stored it in an air tight container in the fridge for a month before and it was still really good. There isn’t a whole lot in it that really “goes bad” and the most it will do is dry out so that is why the most important thing is to wrap it well. I will do plastic wrap and then put it in tin containers. I have started using those over plastic because the things don’t pick up the taste and seem to stay fresher then in plastic containers.
How do I cool the fudge? Leave it out, put it in the fridge? First timer, please help!
After it sits on the counter and cools for about 10-15 minutes, I will put mine in the fridge for another about 15 minutes for it to really set up and cool. I then bring it out and cut it, placing it in an air tight container with wax paper between the layers then keep it in the fridge until ready to use. I make my fudge about 3 weeks before Christmas to have it done and out of the way because it keeps so well and it keeps really well in plastic containers but over they years I have found that the metal cookie tins keep it even better. I collect them from thrift stores and save to use for this. They make it easy to give as a gift in these too.
Another thing I like to do which takes more time but is nice is if I am setting some out on a plate like for Christmas dinner I will individually wrap them in plastic wrap. Sitting all day or evening they can tend to dry out some so this helps with that a little.
Pat
Jill, my mom made this for years. You can store it in the freezer for a few months. She would often do this after Christmas if she had it leftover to enjoy later. Her recipe also called for 2 pkgs (24 oz) of semisweet chocolate chips, otherwise the same.
You are right Pat it does store well. My mother in law and grand mother in law both used this same recipe and each one used a different amount and kind of chocolate chips in their recipe. I tried them both and loved them then over the years sometimes I would have more Hersheys candy bars on hand then chocolate chips and would use more of those and one year I even used one dark chocolate candy bar with the rest and they all turned out good. So I guess if you have the certain amount of ounces of chocolate that is all you really need and another lesson is that if you mix a ton of chocolate and a ton of sugar with marshmallow creme you can’t go wrong no matter what the amount. : ) : ) : )
Is this the Grandma’s recipes that’s always on here, the one from Canada? Or your Grandma? Just curious! LOL. You all are so awesome, I sure wish I’d known about you two when my kids were little. Merry Christmas!
No it isn’t that grandma that is on here it was my husband’s grandmother’s recipe. We are now starting to pass it down to generation number five.
This has just been added to my list for Christmas baking this year. Yummy
Wow! I will have to give this a try.
Jill and Tawra
Just finished making this fudge again this year. It’s so easy and the best. I stocked up on that Hershey candy after Halloween when it was 75 percent off. Had to hide it from hubby
or come time to make fudge it would be gone lol! Merry Christmas and New year blessings
Susan
Thanks Susan. It is my very favorite fudge too. I love it now because with the kids gone I get to like the whole pan when I am done making it. :) The problem for me is I need to hide the Hersheys from myself but that doesn’t always work so well and must confess I had a chocoalte attack a week ago and broke down and hit the candy bars I have been saving for the fudge. Thank goodness it ended up being a big enough bag I didn’t need to buy more. :) Merry Christmas to you too..
I was thinking it looked yummy. But then i saw the ingredients. It must be a total difference in price for ur food over there cuz making these would cost me a fortune. I live in sweden and i was even thinking of buing the cooking book from ya. But when i have scrolled thru some of the recepies u have i find that what makes a 5 dollar meal for u would triple over here. But i like listening to u on the tube so i keep that for now
Regards
Ann
there seems to be several “Grandma’s Million dollar fudge” recipes out there they all claim to be from their own grandma but they all have the same ingredients lol
True Gabby. Actually this recipe was Mamie Eisenhower’s (a US president’s wife) who I think made this recipe popular. Tawra really did get it from her grandmother but like many grandmother’s they probably got it off of a package of something or from the newspaper in the same way we use Pinterest now. I have seen the recipe done in so many ways. Even Tawra’s grandmother and great grandmother used different types of chocolate in theirs different from each other and I do mine with different chocolate than what Tawra used. I usually make it with what ever type of chocolate I find on sale at Halloween
Haven’t seen marshmallow fudge called Million Dollar Fudge since i was a little girl (i am 70)..yes, can’t go wrong ..love it
Is it possible to use sweetened condensed milk instead of evaporated milk? It is what I have in the pantry just now.
No not really. So often when you change the ingredients in things especially in candies they won’t set up right or taste the same
I have found that i get good results from cutting sticky things like brownies with a disposable plastic knife. I bet it would work with fudge alao.
delicious fudge my family loved it! Sent it in small packages in the mail as Christmas gifts.
Great idea Hailie – this is a good recipe to send in a package