Vegan Fantasy Fudge

Growing up, my mom made the most delicious fudge. In fact, it was one of the few chocolate things I can remember that I actually liked, but it had to be my mom's. Other fudge I found distasteful at best. Crumbly, grainy fudge just doesn't do it for me. Little did I know, however, that the fudge wasn't exactly her recipe. Like many of the dishes I associate with my mom, this one came from the back of a jar--the Kraft Marshmallow Creme jar to be exact.

So, this year, I set about to duplicate that fudge without the grossness that is gelatin. The recent explosion of vegan marshmallow options promised to make that fairly east and, indeed, it was. The fudge turned out good. Not as smooth as I rememeber it, perhaps, but still really good. I'm pretty sure Eames lived off nothing but fudge for 3 days and had a keen eye for the container we kept it in, sneaking his little hands in whenever he got a chance.

 

 Vegan Fantasy Fudge (based on the original Kraft recipe)

3 cups sugar

3/4 cup Earth Balance or vegan margarine

2/3 cup coconut milk

1 12 oz. bag Ghiradelli's semi-sweet chocolate chips (the gold bag is vegan)

1 10 oz. bag of Dandies vegan marshmallows

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 t vanilla extract

In a medium cast iron (or any other heavy) pot, combine sugar, EB, and coconut milk. Over medium-high heat, being to a full rolling boil. Stir constantly! Once it's reached a full boil, continue to boil for 5 minutes. Stir constantly! After 5 minutes, remove from heat and immediately stir in marshmallows and choclate chips. It really helps if you use an electric beater. I had to put it back on the heat for a minute to get everything to melt, but with electricity you should be fine. Once the marshmallows and chocolate chips are melted, add nuts and vanilla. Pour into a greased lasagna pan, taking care not to scrape to the bottom or sides of the fudge out of the pan--let a toddler with a mean sugar tooth eat that off a spoon--so you don't get any grainyness.

Let cool at room temp for several hours, then use a sharp knife to cut into bite-sized pieces.