Homemade Fudge Can Be Tricky, But There's A Secret To Making It Easily

If you've ever decided to save money by making homemade fudge, you may have quickly learned that this dessert takes time and skills, and that there's a reason for its expensive price tag. From stirring your ingredients to a specific temperature to making sure you have the perfect weather conditions, there are a lot of factors that can lead to disaster. Your fudge can turn out too soft, too hard, or even grainy, which might bring you right back to the front door of your local fudge shop.

Your homemade fudge can still be easy if you're willing to step away from the traditional fudge recipes. You haven't necessarily been missing any skills, but you've been missing one ingredient — pudding mix. Adding pudding mix to your fudge can save you time, effort, and maybe even a few tears. This version of homemade fudge is as simple as heating the pudding mix, butter, and milk in a saucepan, adding in your powdered sugar and vanilla off the heat, and letting your fudge cool in the fridge. Pudding mix will help you achieve dense, thick fudge and also gives these sweets a flavor boost.

Pudding mix can upgrade plenty of desserts, and in this case, it really simplifies the process. The type of pudding mix you use in your fudge is important, so avoid instant pudding mix, which will lead to disappointingly watery fudge. For a thick and rich flavor, go for Cook & Serve, instead.

When bringing your pudding, butter, and milk to a boil, you only need to boil the mixture for a minute. Don't worry if it looks lumpy, as it will be smoothed out when you beat in the sugar with an electric mixer. Once you've added in your vanilla or other essences, your fudge just needs to be chilled for two to three hours before you can indulge.

If you want the best of both flavors, you can add one vanilla pudding mix and one chocolate. If you prefer one flavor, you can add two of the same pudding mixes. Feel free to get creative if there's another Cook & Serve pudding mix you'd like to experiment with. And, if you're looking for a little crunch, you can also stir in some chopped nuts before chilling your homemade fudge in the fridge.