Over the years, I have had a few kitchen disasters that resulted in major cleanup afterwards.
There was the time I dropped my flour container, spilling it all over the floor.
There was another, when I accidentally turned my mixer on too high and exploded chocolate cake batter all over my backsplash and cabinets.
The worst one was knocking a two-liter of pop off the counter. That one resulted in cleaning the ceiling.
This week, it was as sudden overflow on my stovetop, burning a mixture of sugar and evaporated milk into a thick, impenetrable mess and filling the kitchen with smoke.
Luckily, that was the only part of my cooking experiment that was a disaster, as the recipe for million dollar fudge that Carolyn Doyle of Newton submitted for our holiday recipe guide turned out absolutely delicious, and as long as you keep an eye on what you’re doing, you’ll end up with an excellent holiday treat without the big mess I had.
Million Dollar Fudge
Ingredients
- 2 7.56- ounce Hershey bars chopped
- 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 7- ounce jars marshmallow crème
- 4 tablespoons margarine
- 4 1/2 cups sugar
- 12 ounces evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups chopped walnuts
- whole walnuts for decorating
Instructions
- Prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking dish by greasing it with butter. (This will give you about two-inch tall pieces. Use two dishes if you want something thinner.) Set it aside.
- In a large, heat-proof mixing bowl, add the chopped Hershey bars, chocolate chips, marshmallow crème and margarine, and set it aside, as well.
- In a medium-sized saucepan, add the sugar and evaporated milk, and heat it over medium-low heat, stirring regularly, until it reaches soft ball stage (240 degrees). (Be careful to watch it, because it can overflow easily.)
- Pour the hot sugar mixture over the ingredients in the mixing bowl and beat until everything is well combined. Beat in the vanilla, and fold in the chopped walnuts.
- Spread the mixture out evenly in your prepared pan(s), and press a whole walnut into each spot where you’ll want to cut a piece of fudge.
- Let the fudge cool completely on the counter or in the refrigerator, and then slice into one-inch pieces.
- Store in an airtight container.
This was extremely rich and decadent, exactly what you want out of a holiday treat.
The inclusion of walnuts throughout the fudge adds a nice crunch, and the marshmallow fluff keeps it from being overly dense.
It’s also pretty, which makes for a great addition for a treat table or a cookie box.
And I suppose my stovetop needed a really good deep clean anyway, so maybe my sugar mess was really just the universe letting me know it was time to get to scrubbing. At least I had some excellent sugar-filled treats to enjoy while I did so.
This piece first appeared in print Dec. 25, 2025.
Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.
