As before, Betsey put the sugar, milk, chocolate and butter in the saucepan and on to boil and let them cook until a little of the syrup dropped in cold water formed a soft ball between the thumb and finger, then adding the vanilla, she removed the saucepan from the fire and placed it in a pan of cold water. After beating the fudge until it was as thick as heavy cream, Betsey poured it into the buttered pan and marked in squares.
If mother happened to be out of chocolate, which sometimes occurred, Betsey made a fudge with cocoa or coffee.
Fudge with Cocoa
| Sugar (granulated), | 2 cups |
| Milk, | ½ cup |
| Cocoa, | 4 tablespoons |
| Butter, | 1 tablespoon |
| Flavoring (vanilla), | 1 teaspoon |
Betsey melted the butter in the saucepan first, then added the cocoa gradually, and when it was very smooth included the sugar and milk. These she let boil until a little of the syrup dropped in cold water formed a soft ball, then removing the saucepan from the fire, she placed it in a pan of cold water, added the vanilla, beat the fudge until it was thick like heavy cream, and poured it in the buttered pan and marked in squares.
Fudge with Coffee
| Sugar (granulated), | 2 cups |
| Coffee, | 1 cup |
| (Not too strong, and strained through cheesecloth.) | |
| Butter, | 2 tablespoons |
Let sugar, coffee and butter cook until a little dropped in cold water forms a soft ball, Betsey explained to a friend of mother's who happened in, remove saucepan from fire and stand in a pan of cold water, then beat until it looks as thick as nice heavy cream, when you pour at once into a buttered pan and mark in squares. The friend liked the coffee flavor so well that she went home and made some for herself.
When Betsey began to add nuts, raisins, figs, dates, marshmallows or marshmallow cream to the different kinds of fudges, mother at first thought it unnecessary to re-write the quantities and directions, but Betsey exclaimed, "Why, mother, it will be so much easier if I have each recipe written out all by itself, then I won't need to keep referring back!" and mother found Betsey was right.