Five Three Fudge

I just made up that name. For my whole life it has just been "mom's fudge". Such a forgettable name. But Five Three? Better right? Maybe when you understand what the five and three stand for. Five minutes. Three ingredients. I'm serious. And it's good. You might be able to find comparable fudge out there, but chances are it requires fancy equipment, lots of time, and a super attentive cook. Not Five Three fudge. This is the perfect last minute Christmas treat. At our house, it isn't Christmas without the fudge.

The best part is that you can make a million variations. This year we did semi-sweet (the classic), marshmallow, rocky road, and peanut butter chocolate.

Matt told me when we were dating that he didn't like fudge. Who doesn't like fudge?! Turns out, he likes this fudge. It is sweet (duh) but not too sweet. You don't feel like you immediately need to brush your teeth with bleach after you eat it to get all the sugar off. That kinda makes me cringe, actually. Bad analogy. Forget I said it. The point is, this fudge passes Matt's taste test.

So you wanna make some? Here's what you'll need:

1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla

Line square baking dish with wax paper. Mix the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes, then stir. Microwave at 1 minute intervals, stirring after each, until all the chocolate is melted. Stir in the vanilla. Add any mix-ins. Pour on to the wax paper, smooth out, then refrigerate until set (usually overnight). Once it is set, cut into squares and enjoy!

That's it. No thermometer, double boiler, tempering or any another candy making technicalities. I have found that it usually only takes one or two 1 minute intervals before all the chocolate is melted. One batch will fill an 8x8 baking dish. Double it for a 9x13.

In the past my family has tried a whole slew of variations, including:
Cherry (chop maraschino cherries, blot dry with a paper towel, then mix in after the vanilla)
Nuts
Rocky Road (mini marshmallows and chopped nuts)
Marshmallow
Mint (with mint extract)
Orange (orange extract)
Candy Cane (crush before mixing)
Peanut butter chocolate (one layer made with peanut butter chips- minus the vanilla, and one with chocolate)

And this year we thought of doing s'more fudge, using mini marshmallows and teddy grahams or broken graham crackers, but we didn't have the graham crackers. Next year.

The possibilites are basically endless. Can you think of any others we should try next year? Anyone going to make fudge now?