Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Fudge

This Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Fudge recipe has been passed down for three generations. This stuff is sweet and intensely peanut buttery. It's a family tradition delicious enough to keep going for another 50 years at least.

My last Christmas with my mom was in 2008, and I can't believe that was 13 years ago. She absolutely loved Christmas and went all out every single year to make it special for everyone. I started writing about her legendary Christmas baking when I first posted this peanut butter fudge recipe back in 2013. This recipe was my favorite and pretty much everyone else's. It was also far and away the number 1 recipe on this site for at least five years.

It pleases me to no end that this recipe has been viewed over 58,000 times, even with the absolutely horrible photos. My mom's legacy definitely deserved a re-shoot. We can't bring back our lost loved ones, but a little bit of kitchen magick can keep them in our lives. I hope my legacy can be half as delicious.

What makes Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Fudge so awesome?

I cannot be in the same room with this peanut butter fudge or I'll eat it until I'm sick. It's unbelievably addictive. I don't really know how to describe it other than sweet and peanut buttery with the perfect amount of resistance. It just tastes like childhood Christmas, and I can't get enough.

But it's not just me that loves it. Every time I make a batch and share it with people, they lose their minds a little. There was one year when my mom didn't make peanut butter fudge for a family holiday gathering, and my uncles basically revolted. They never let her forget it. You can (and probably should) cut these into smaller squares than I did for the photos, so there's always plenty to share. They make a great gift or party favor.

Make it magical

We've spoken before about the grounding energy of peanut butter. It brings prosperity, opportunities, and stability. We've also talked before about honoring your ancestors by continuing to share their recipes with your family and friends. I'm definitely working some ancestor magic every time I make this recipe. When you create a handed down recipe, you can pour all your love for that passed family member into your food. When you share it with others, you're passing that love on to them as well.

Family traditions are really a sort of ritual when you think about it. We do things the same way every year to keep us connected to our past in a loving way. It may not be the case that all our family memories are positive, but we can still offer up gratitude for the moments that brought us joy.

To see the magickal correspondences of the ingredients in this recipe, check out the Kitchen Magick page.

How to make Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Fudge

Okay, this is an old-fashioned recipe, so it's not super simple. We're not making fudge in the microwave here, kids. We're doing it the way grandma did it. You will need a candy thermometer, and you will need to tend to it the whole time. My mom's one rule was never stop stirring. She would actually get my dad to assist so the mixture kept moving the whole time.

I definitely recommend you prep all your ingredients in advance. The sugar and evaporated milk can go straight into a pot. Make sure you're using a big enough pot for the mixture to boil and expand. Then in a separate bowl, measure out your marshmallow, peanut butter, and vanilla. Just have it ready to go.

Then it's just stirring. Stir your sugar and milk mixture until it reaches the soft ball stage on your thermometer. This could take 10 minutes or so. Then turn the heat off, but keep stirring as you add in the marshmallow and peanut butter. Just keep stirring as quickly and carefully as you can until the mixture is smooth and incorporated, then transfer it to a waiting 8x8 inch baking pan as quickly as possible. It will begin to set as soon as it starts cooling, so you need to work quickly. It is boiling sugar, though, so it will burn you.

Don't panic. Just be prepared and keep stirring. Once it's in the pan, you have to walk away for a few hours to let it cool completely before cutting it into squares and feeding it to your adoring friends and family.

This Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter fudge will always be my favorite. It's our family tradition, and I hope it can become one of yours as well.

Looking for more awesome holiday treats? Try some Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies or this Satsuma & Dark Chocolate Brioche.

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