This rocky road fudge is a classic at our house and has made an appearance every Christmas for decades! It is not Christmas without rocky road fudge.
Does your family have a favorite holiday treat? Something that is a must have each holiday season, the thing that everyone looks forward to and dreams about?! Christmas is not Christmas at our house until there is Rocky Road Fudge. For the last fifty years my mother has made Rocky Road Fudge – it’s her holiday specialty. In fact, I was at her house this weekend , the weekend before Thanksgiving, and she already had her first batch in the refrigerator. Still making rocky road fudge at 88 years of age!
I actually didn’t make my first batch of rocky road fudge until a few years ago, fudge making was mom’s job and she does it so well! I make it a little different than my mother does though, I make it a little less rocky. No nuts for me! I know it really isn’t truly Rocky Road without the nuts but I don’t like nuts in my candy! The only rocks I like in my Rocky Road Fudge are marshmallows. Pure chocolate fudgy goodness with marshmallows – yum!!
How Do You Make Rocky Road Fudge?
There are a few tricks to making rocky road fudge. The first one is you want to use a nice heavy pan. Fudge needs to boil for a while and in order for it not to burn on the bottom you need a heavy pan. I use my mom’s old candy making pan.
Since the fudge is nice and warm when you add the marshmallows make sure you freeze them first so they hold their shape.
This recipe is quick and easy as far as fudge recipes go and makes a nice big batch. You don’t need a candy thermometer either. Just boil for 6 minutes.
Pour it into a greased 9 x 13 pan and allow it to set up. It will thicken as it cools. I like to keep it in the refrigerator.
Rocky Road Fudge is rich and chocolatey so cut the pieces fairly small. My mom likes to add walnuts into her rocky road fudge to make it “real” rocky road fudge as she likes to call it but I’m going to stick with “less” rocky road fudge!
Other favorite candy recipes:
White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge
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Rocky Road Fudge Recipe
- 12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup butter
- 4 C sugar
- 1 1/2 C evaporated milk
- 20 large marshmallows
- 2 C walnuts chopped
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 16 oz miniature marshmallows frozen
Place 2/3 of the bag of miniature marshmallows on a baking sheet and freeze
- Mix together sugar, milk and 20 lg. marshmallows and boil for 6 minutes, stirring constantly
- Remove from heat and add chocolate chips and butter
- Stir until thick, add nuts and let sit awhile to thicken up a bit, add vanilla and frozen marshmallows
- If you are not adding nuts you may want more marshmallows
- Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan
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Originally posted December 18, 2009
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I had never made fudge before and I made your mom’s recipe yesterday…It worked! It worked! It worked!
My daughter and I both gasped out loud when we saw the picture of your fudge–this looks amazing! Can’t wait to try this recipe.
Is it normal to get brown flecks in the mixture when cooking it on the stove, like toasted marshmallow? It still turned out great, just wanted to know if that is normal. I will be making the fudge every year. Most fudge recipes I try turn out grainy. This one was fabulous and I didn’t have to beat it to death, (that’s what my one recipe requires).
Laura,
Yes, my mom says it happens to her every time. Glad you enjoyed the fudge!
Love the fudge with marshmallows. . Hubby love them too. Thank you for sharing.
I have to say this is an amazing recipe/ I made it the other day it was super easy and so good. I only made a half of recipe and now I am wishing I made the whole thing just so I had more for myself lol. Thanks for the post.
So glad you liked it – it is a family tradition around here at the holidays.
I am so glad that I found this recipe. My grandma used to make this for Christmas all the time- and it’s my absolute favorite! Thank you for sharing this- I am definitely making it this year for my family.
I am so glad you found the recipe too! Enjoy making it.
20 Large marshmallows = How many mini’s? Didn’t notice the “large” till I started and only saw the minis in the pics…& have 2 bags of minis….
I really want to make this for friend this week for his bday. What do you do with it after you pour it into the pan? Refrigerate?
You just need to let it set up -putting it in the refrigerator will help it set up faster. I do keep leftover fudge in the fridge.
Wondering why there is so much sugar in this recipe? The chips are already sweet as are the marshmallows. I would not add any sugar to this recipe unless it is needed for some reason?