Valentine's Day - College Edition

Valentine’s Day – College Edition

First off, my expectations for baking something for this holiday that was equal to, or better, than last year’s was simply absurd. I’d set the bar too high with heart-shaped iced cookies that I hid all over the house for my family to find. They were time consuming and finicky, but delighted everyone.

My mission this year was to create something that would bring just as much joy to my housemates as last year’s endeavor had to my family. Problem was, I only had the most basic ingredients, the kitchen was rudimentary, and I had limited space to work with. Cookies and cake were out of the question; fudge on the other hand, seemed manageable. I had ventured out in the snowstorm to find sugar, evaporated milk, marshmallows, and chocolate at the CVS in town.

That night, I made my first batch and accidentally turned it into M&M studded fudge sauce. Dismayed, I cooked up a second batch on Friday afternoon and it turned out perfectly. There were just enough ingredients for one last trial to see what went wrong with my first try. Sure enough, I found out what had gone wrong: too many marshmallows. Content, I cut up my fudge and banished the vast quantities of fudge sauce to the freezer for later use over ice cream.

The true reward however, came from the delight my fudge instilled upon everyone who tasted it. Maybe I had lived up to last year’s extravagance with my humble chocolaty morsels.

Recipe (adapted from Marshmallow Fluff’s Never-Fail-Fudge)

Ingredients

32 large marshmallows

1 15-ounce can evaporated milk

2 ½ cups sugar

4 tbsp salted butter*

12 oz chocolate chips

1 cup M&Ms (optional)

Instructions:

1. Combine first four ingredients in a large pot and line a 13”x9” baking pan with wax paper.
2. Heat on medium heat, stirring frequently until marshmallows have melted completely. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
3. Cook until mixture is a light caramel color, 5-8 minutes, and take off heat.
4. Immediately add chocolate chips and stir until smooth. Pour in prepared pan and sprinkle with M&Ms.
5. Chill for at least 3 hours and cut into squares.

Note:

* can use 7 packets of butter from dining hall if no other butter can be acquired.