I don’t tend to eat a ton of sweets – except at Christmas time. And nothing says Christmas more than fudge, amirite?

So, time to dust off the old family recipe and whip up some double decker fudge.

I like chocolate, but it generally is too rich for me to eat it straight – so cutting it with peanut butter is the way to go.

Now, there are two versions of this recipe that I have used in the last two weeks. There is the traditional family version which comes from my mother’s childhood friend, Paula Rogers, who found it in an old, old cookbook. Paula used to bring it to Thanksgiving every year, and eventually we took the recipe home and added it to our Christmas celebrations as well.

I fondly remember going to my grandparents’ house and seeing all the Christmas tins in the garage full of double decker fudge.

This is a really good recipe – if you do it right. I unfortunately, did not do it right. So my chocolate refused to set up and instead is like paste. It tastes good, but is better eaten with a spoon.

At any rate, you can get that recipe from the photo below:

The other recipe is one that I found on AllRecipes.com. The main difference is using chocolate chips instead of cocoa – and it takes about 30 minutes less time.

I used it for my first batch this winter, and so thoroughly impressed my co-workers, that one old-timer said it was the best fudge he’d ever eaten in his life.

While I like traditions and I generally believe in not cutting corners on this stuff, I will say this easier version tasted better. But I do plan on trying to the family recipe again and hopefully the chocolate will set up this time (as an aside, I think I didn’t mix the chocolate long enough which is why it didn’t set up).

Anyway, here is my version of the easy recipe of double decker fudge.

Ingredients

2 cups peanut butter chips

2 cups chocolate chips

4 1/2 cups white sugar

14 ounces marshmallow creme

1 1/2 cups evaporated milk

1/2 cup butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

Line an 11×13 pan with tinfoil and set aside.

Place peanut butter chips in medium bowl. Set aside.

Place chocolate chips in second medium bowl. Set aside.

Combine sugar, marshmallow creme, milk and butter in heavy, large pan.

Cook stirring constantly on medium heat until mixture reaches boiling. You must stir constantly. You don’t want burnt sugar in your fudge. You also don’t want to go higher than medium heat, as the fudge will lose its creaminess. So, suffer through the stirring.

Once you reach boiling, stir for five more minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Immediately pour half of mixture over peanut butter chips and stir until smooth. Spread in pan.

Pour rest of mixture over chocolate chips and stir until smooth. Spread over peanut butter.

After chocolate mixture has cooled, beat it with a mixer for a long, long, long time – 10 minutes perhaps. Pour over peanut butter mixture.

After fudge has cooled, remove from the pan, peel off the foil and cut into one-inch squares.

Then enjoy the goodness.

It took me 21 minutes from turning on the stove to reach boiling. That’s a lot of stirring. It helps to have a second person around, then you can trick them into stirring at times also – sadly, my 2-year-old daughter Cat did not understand this concept.

In the end, it took me about 30 minutes from start to finish.

– Craig Craker