My mom makes homemade fudge every Christmas to go with her famous cookie platters. It's one of those treats that you sneak into the fridge for. You know, the kind of treat that you take, then move everything in the container around a little bit to cover the empty spot your sneaky hands just created.
I never made it myself, though, until 2015.
See, it rained for about ten days in a row here, and Pete and I braved the hurricane and flooding to pick up some groceries. So of course, we had to pick up the ingredients to make homemade fudge.
Because calories don't count during a hurricane.
As I was making it, I realized what a perfect wedding favor this would be and, thus, this post was born.
Homemade Fudge Wedding Favor
This recipe below is for basic homemade fudge. You can use this as a base for all different sorts of fudge.
I have a couple examples of fudge varieties at the end of this post, so be sure to check those out after you have the basic recipe down.
Homemade Fudge Wedding Favor Recipe:
What You'll Need:
- 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
- 3 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon real vanilla
What You'll Do:
Combine the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in microwave safe bowl.
Microwave it for one minute.
Add in the vanilla. Stir until all the ingredients are combined and the mixture starts getting thick.
If the chocolate chips aren't melted completely, you can add the bowl back into the microwave at 30 second intervals.
Pour the bowl's contents into a foil-lined 8x8 cake pan. Spread it out evenly.
Chill it in the fridge, at least two hours.
Cut into bite-sized 1-inch pieces. This recipe will make 64 1-inch pieces.
Resist the temptation to eat the entire batch. I know, it's hard.
Try. To. Be. Strong.
You have a wedding dress to fit into, after all.
How To Package Homemade Fudge
What You'll Need:
- Fudge (or what's left of your batch, anyway)
- Baker's twine
- Butcher paper
- Scissors
What You'll Do:
Cut the butcher paper into 4x4 inch squares.
Put a piece of fudge in the center of the paper square. Fold two opposite sides to the middle. Fold the other two sides in. Set aside.
Do this three times, with three pieces of fudge, then stack those three pieces.
Tie a piece of baker's twine around it. Tie a thank you tag to it when you get to the top, then use the excess twine make a bow atop.
How absolutely adorable would that look at everyone's seats?
This homemade fudge wedding favor recipe makes 64 pieces. So that's about 21 favors per batch. If you're having 100 guests at your wedding, you need to make four batches to complete your favors.
This fudge was so easy to make and Pete and I actually made it together, so this sounds like a good bonding experience for you and your fiance.
Homemade Wedding Fudge Varieties
Now that you have the basic homemade fudge recipe down, you can work on varieties.
Some of our favorite homemade fudge varieties are:
- S'mores Fudge
- Rocky Road Fudge
- Peanut Butter Fudge
- Chocolate Covered Cherry Fudge
- White Chocolate Cherry Fudge
You can add nuts -- although, if you're doing this as a favor, I would avoid those because people may have allergies -- candy cane, marshmallows ... you could use white chips, peanut butter chips ... I mean, really, your possibilities are pretty endless.
If you want the additions of those things to be mix ins, stir them in after you have melted the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in the microwave. That way, they'll be in the mixture when you pour it into your pan.
If you want them to be toppings, pour the fudge into the pan and spread it evenly first, then add your toppings on top of the fudge while it's still warm.
Use the back of a fork to press the toppings into the fudge.
If you don't push the toppings into the fudge before cooling it, there is a very good chance that they'll fall off and won't actually stick into your fudge.
How To Make Fudge In Your Wedding Colors
This could actually end up being its own post, honestly. But for now, we're going to just give you a quick overview of what you could do to make two toned fudge.
Also, we're pretending you have two wedding colors (so it will look like the image above, just without the candy on top). If you have more colors, you can just adapt this to include more colors.
Two Tone Fudge:
Start with 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, 3 cups of white chocolate chips, and food coloring in your wedding colors.
Split the white chocolate chips between two bowls. Pour the sweetened condensed milk between both bowls. Set one aside.
Take one of the bowls and microwave it for one minute. Stir until the chocolate has melted. Add a few drops of your first food coloring to the mixture, then stir to combine.
Pour the mixture into a foil lined 8x8 pan, spread it evenly, and put it in the fridge for at least two hours.
After it has chilled, microwave the bowl you set aside. Add your second food coloring color to this mixture.
Carefully pour the second color on top of the first color and spread it evenly. Put this back in the fridge to chill at least two hours before cutting.
Just like the fudge above, you can wrap it in butcher paper and twine. Definitely choose twine that matches your wedding colors if you do that. But, since you went through all the trouble of making this match your wedding colors, you should just buy clear, cellophane treat bags and package them in those so everyone can see your hard work. You can even get a foil twist tie to match your wedding colors.
