This is dessert of my childhood. Of my childhood and all the kids growing up in Poland during the PRL times. These were times when chocolate was almost impossible to get at the store, and to be honest, this was one of the smallest problems. These were just difficult times and I am glad it is all in the past now.
Necessity is the mother of invention, right? And with this fudge at home I never felt deprived of anything, always happy to sneak into the kitchen and steal few pieces when no one was looking. Always happy to assist in preparations, mostly to be first to “clean” all the spoons, pots and bowls at the end of the cooking session. And I was also the first one to suggest that it is the time to try if the fudge is ready to eat or just to make sure it turned out ok this time. These are nice memories, and I am sure more people have similar ones. Now, when everything is available and we can buy absolutely anything we want (provided we have the money ;)) this chocolate fudge with crackers is still present in many homes. It is quick, soo tasty and brings up nice memories.
Ingredients:
- ~17 oz dry milk
- ¾ – 1 cup sugar
- 2 sticks butter
- 0.5 – 1 cup water OR milk*
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa**
- 16 graham crackers***
*Amount of liquid depend on how dry is the milk and how it was dried out, so I recommend starting with 0.5 cup and having another half ready to add if needed. From my experience, in Europe 0.5 a cup was more than enough to obtain good consistency, however in US I need to add almost entire cup per same amount of dry milk. The amount of liquid will also vary between different brands.
**I add only 3 tablespoons of cocoa, so the taste of dry milk is more pronounced, but if you would like it to be more chocolate like, just add few more tablespoons of cocoa.
***This is just a suggestion, you may add more or less, depending on taste. Some also enjoy this treat with nuts, raisins and dates added to the fudge. Feel free to experiment.
Instructions:
- Line loaf pan with parchment paper (I used a loaf pan, but the shape/size doesn’t matter; actually you may choose something wider, like square baking dish, so the fudge is shorter and thus easier to slice).
- In a small pot mix butter, sugar, cocoa and liquid, either milk OR water (add just 0.5 cup of liquid, have the rest warm and ready to add later if needed).
- –> have the additional 0.5 cup of water or milk lukewarm and ready to use.
- Heat the butter/sugar/cocoa/liquid mixture up on medium heat until butter and sugar melt. Stir occasionally.
- In a medium bowl break crackers into smaller pieces.
- In a big bowl, place dry milk.
- Add crackers to the milk.
- Add warm butter/sugar/cocoa mixture and mix well. It will be quite thick. If it is still too dry add more water OR milk.
- Once the mixture is ready, transfer it to the prepared pan.
- Cool it in a fridge at least for 4 hours, preferably overnight.
- Slice and enjoy!
Yield: ~24 pieces
Nutritional Info (per piece, version prepared with 2% milk): Cal 135, Prot 2g, Carb 14, Fat 8g, Fiber 0.3g
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