GRANDMA'S CHOCOLATE FUDGE

This is a delicious chocolate fudge made with marshmallow creme, chocolate chips, and evaporated milk.  My mom always made her fudge with evaporated milk and I still like mine that way today.

4 cups sugar
2 cans (5-oz each) evaporated milk
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 pkg (12-oz) semisweet chocolate chips
1 jar (7-oz) marshmallow creme
1 cup chopped walnuts*
1 tsp vanilla

Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil and extend the foil over the edges.  Butter the foil and set aside.

Butter the sides of a heavy 3-quart saucepan.  Combine the sugar, evaporated milk, and butter in the saucepan.  Cook, stirring, over medium-high heat to boiling.  Continue to cook while stirring until the mixture reaches the soft-ball stage or 236 on a candy thermometer.  This will take 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat.  Add the chocolate chips, marshmallow creme, walnuts, and vanilla.  Stir hard until the chocolate melts.  Spread the mixture into the prepared pan.  While still warm, score the candy into squares.  When firm, cut all the way through the squares.  Store in refrigerator or a cool place.

Yield:  Aproximately 3 1/2 lbs

*We had a black walnut tree across from our home in Southern Indiana.  We used them or hickory nuts in our fudge.  For you who don't know what a hickory nut is, it is a lot like pecans and we used them in recipes that called for pecans.  I later, as a mother living outside Indiana, started using mostly pecans.  Since I live in Texas now, we have pecans instead of hickory nuts.  And my children never cared much for walnuts.  In my opinion, just about any nut would be good in this fudge.