With a few items from your pantry, you can have delicious fudge in no time!

I have a serious obsession with vintage cookbooks! Every time we head out to our favorite antique store, I run to the book section. Though I love our modern conveniences we have today, it is so great to learn the “old ways”. You really gain a better appreciation for certain recipes this way. Over my next few blogs, I thought it would be fun to try some of the recipes in my vintage cookbooks! The first recipe we are going to look at is Old-Fashioned Mashed Potato Fudge from the Wilton Complete Book of Candy.

When I first saw this recipe I had to do a double-take. Fudge and mashed potatoes are not something I would normally put hand in hand. I do keep not only fresh potatoes in our pantry but potato flakes as well for baking. For my experiment, I used a batch of mashed potatoes from the potato flakes, but you can use fresh mashed potatoes for this recipe as well. I did adjust the recipe a bit because I wanted to use items I had on hand. You will also need some butter, cocoa powder, vanilla, and powdered sugar. All simple ingredients, you probably have in your pantry right now!

Just a side note, this is my first recipe using my homemade vanilla! I started this vanilla project back in January, and it’s really developing some great flavor. I’ll share my adventures with making extracts though in a later blog, back to the Fudge!

To make the Mashed Potato fudge, you want to start by melting your butter. I found in a microwave-safe dish is the easiest. Next, you are going to mix your cocoa powder with your butter. With this recipe, we are making almost a “clay”. There is going to be some kneading involved, so don’t worry if your cocoa powder and butter look a little thick, just make sure everything is fully incorporated.

Now you are going to mix your mashed potatoes with the vanilla, give it a good mix. Next, mix the cocoa mixture with the mashed potato mixture. I found having the mashed potatoes around room temperature makes this easier.

The mixing step is the most fun part! You are going to slowly start to incorporate your powdered sugar with the cocoa/potato mixture. You can mix by hand (a bit messy) or by using a silicone spatula. After all of your ingredients are fully mixed and kneaded together, you will have a sticky “clay”.

We need to allow our fudge to cool and harden in the fridge. You can take a 9″x5″ loaf pan and line it with parchment paper. The original recipe called for foil, but we had parchment paper on hand and it worked great. Place your fudge mixture into the loaf pan and gently spread on the bottom of the lined pan. Using the extra parchment, gently cover your fudge and place it in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

After the fudge has hardened, take it out of the fridge, and cut it into pieces the size you would like. I suggest cutting off enough to eat, and keeping the rest of the fudge in the parchment. If you do cut into smaller pieces, you want to wrap those pieces up in little parchment squares, as fudge can be sticky after sitting out for a while. The taste will absolutely blow your mind! I can’t believe there are potatoes in this! You will notice the traditional fudge texture with this recipe. The fudge is very rich, and would make a great treat to bring to any gathering! Mashed Potato fudge will last 2 weeks in the fridge, and 6 months in the freezer (but it’s too good to last that long without eating it!)

Hopefully I’ve given you some inspiration to grab a spud and make some fudge!