Brown Sugar Fudge. This recipe uses an old fashioned method and just a few ingredients to produce a creamy, caramel flavoured fudge you’ll absolutely love.
Old Fashioned Brown Sugar Fudge
Originally published Oct, 2019.
This recipe was inspired by a reader who evoked a childhood memory of mine.
Sonja emailed me to ask if I had a recipe for brown sugar fudge. Unfortunately I did not, but I had a niggling feeling that I knew it from years ago.
The mystery was solved when she said in a follow-up email. “The version I am after was super simple – just 5 ingredients. Evaporated milk, brown sugar, butter, vanilla and salt.
Old Fashioned Brown Sugar Fudge
The original source of the recipe was the label on the can of Carnation.” I recognized that recipe immediately.
Back in the 70’s, when Sonja also first remembers this recipe, Carnation brand evaporated milk printed recipes on the reverse side of the label on its cans.
Old Fashioned Brown Sugar Fudge, a memory.
Back in my very early days of cooking and baking, I remember clipping those labels with the recipes off of the can. I can even now visualize a small square of fudge that was pictured on the label with that recipe.
Those labels and other hand written recipes, I remember storing in a small yellow plastic recipe box. I’m sure there would be a treasure trove of ideas if I was ever to find it again.
I am absolutely certain I had that fudge recipe label stored in that box over 40 years ago.
It took no time to find the recipe from several sources online, once I had the additional details.
Several failed fudge attempts during that time, also come quickly to mind. With six kids in the house though, even bad, crystallized fudge was worth eating. None of it was wasted.
Old Fashioned Brown Sugar Fudge
Temperature is key for perfect Brown Sugar Fudge
Back in those days, people still routinely relied on the soft ball stage test for candy making. A small spoon of the boiling candy would be dropped into ice cold water.
If the ball was firm but still able to be squeezed between your fingers, it was done.
That, of course, was a very imprecise way of judging the proper temperature. I’ll bet there were as many fails as successes using that method.
The solution for a far more precise way of ensuring a smooth creamy, non-grainy fudge is to use a decent candy thermometer. Or any heat safe thermometer that can reach about 240 degrees F.
A digital food thermometer can easily be purchased quite inexpensively these days. I’ve now added one to my Amazon Store.
Old Fashioned Brown Sugar Fudge at the correct temperature.
The correct temperature for the boiling fudge is 236-238 degrees F. As soon as I hit the 236 mark, off the heat it came.
I could not have been more pleased with the result! My final cooled fudge was smooth, creamy and had great caramel flavour. It was irresistible!
Old Fashioned Brown Sugar Fudge
I’m sure you know someone who would appreciate a surprise treat of this delicious fudge. With the Holidays fast approaching, its a great, inexpensive idea for gift giving too.
Looking for Christmas cookie inspiration?
If you liked this recipe you many want to check out this great collection of No Bake Cookies that was incredibly popular during our last Holiday season.
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Brown Sugar Fudge, the old fashioned way
Brown Sugar Fudge. This recipe uses an old fashioned method and just a few ingredients to produce a creamy caramel flavoured fudge you'll absolutely love.
Ingredients
- 2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup butter (see note)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup toasted pecans or walnuts (roughly chopped with a chef's knife) (Optional)
Instructions
- Lightly grease an 8x8 inch pan and line it with parchment paper. (The size is important, see note)
- In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter slowly over medium low heat.
- Add the white sugar, brown sugar and evaporated milk. Increase heat to medium.
- Bring to a gentle gentle, constant boil.
- Cook until the mixture reaches between 236 and 238 degrees F. Stir only very occasionally, perhaps just a couple of times. Over-stirring can cause crystallization of the sugar and your fudge will seize.
- As soon as the mixture hits the correct temperature, remove the pan from the heat.
- Quickly but gently stir in the vanilla extract.
- Allow this mixture to remain at room temperature until lukewarm. Do NOT try to speed this process up by placing in the fridge or freezer.
- When cooled to lukewarm, beat the fudge mixture with a wooden spoon until it loses its glossy appearance and begins to thicken more.
- Stir in the nuts at this point if you are adding them.
- Pour evenly into the prepared pan.
- Leave for several hours to set until firm.
- Lift the fudge out of the pan using the parchment paper and transfer it to a cutting board.
- Cut into 64 one inch squares, or larger if you prefer.
- Store in an airtight container. I do like to refrigerate mine once it is cooled completely and cut.
- If freezing fudge, cut the batch into 4 equal squares, and wrap each one tightly with plastic wrap before placing in an airtight container to freeze. This will allow you to take out one or two of the larger pieces and then cut them into portions as needed.
Notes
I used light brown sugar in this version and the fudge had plenty of caramel flavour when finished.
I use salted butter but do not add any additional salt to the recipe. If using unsalted butter, you may add a pinch or two of salt if you like.
Do not confuse evaporated milk for sweetened condensed milk. This recipe uses undiluted evaporated milk, measured straight from the can.
If adding nuts, you should toast them beforehand for best flavour and crunchy texture. Simply place them in a singe layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, turning them over at about the halfway point.
This recipe is meant for an 8x8 inch pan. Using a larger pan will produce pieces of fudge that are too thin. The measurements for a 9x9 pan are:
2 1/2cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 1/4 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp butter
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
The instructions do not change.
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Nutrition Information
Yield
64Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 63Total Fat 3gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 5mgSodium 17mgCarbohydrates 9gFiber 0gSugar 9gProtein 0g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
JH
Sunday 25th of August 2024
Recipe did not work. Do you mix the sugars into the melted butter? Apparently not. It just came out as clumps of sugar in melted butter.
Olivia Parsons
Tuesday 27th of August 2024
Once the butter is melted the sugar and evaporated milk should be added in and the whole mixture brought to a gentle boil. That cooking process is what caramelizes and solidifies the fudge. Using a thermometer to reach the correct temperature is your best bet. Hope this helps.
Rae
Monday 30th of October 2023
This sounds similar to one from my childhood, but I keenly remember the distinct caramel flavor and sugary velvet texture. It wasn't smooth creamy. We actually broke it into chunks and it melted Heavenly in our mouth. Does anyone have a brown sugar fudge recipe that sounds like this? It was my neighbor that made the fudge. We didn't have the recipe. Still searching for this after all these years.
Gail
Wednesday 29th of December 2021
This fudge was so easy and was the one I'd been searching for. Just like my dad used to make, ah the memories. Turned out perfect.
Trudy Schouten
Thursday 23rd of July 2020
Barry, I'm out in Alberta. Do I have to allow for a lower (or higher?) boiling point for the fudge as due to Calgary's altitude water actually boils at about 208 F? I have ruined more fudge recipes trying to get this right.
Shirley
Friday 18th of October 2019
I was so excited to see this—yet the one I made in the ‘50’s was slightly easier & I do not have it. I was a teenager, mother got recipe from a coworker. No money but for basics but we could make the fudge. I experimented & found one cup each of dark brown & light brown sugar was perfect balance, one can evaporated milk (was a bit larger then—how many ounces?). Just got it boiling well for a number of minutes? Then beat it like heck for 5 mins. No recollection of butter required, but we only had margarine, that is what I used? Vanilla? Does any one know this version? Thanks so much!