Take time to Share your Christmas Traditions - Recipes

This weeks theme is "Recipes". How yummy! Also, who doesn't have a recipe that they make every year? I know my mother has one that she has been making for over 20 years and now it is to the point that if she shows up to our big Christmas Eve with my Dad's family without her fudge, she can't come in. Yes, fudge. Noone said these recipes would be healthy. Heck, most holiday recipes are exactly the opposite. This is the time of year that everyone lets loose a bit and we all gain weight because of it. I am starting to get my own recipes of note, but I think for now, I am going to share my mom's awesome recipe, that I have now begun to make as well. This fudge is super simple and oh so yummy!

The ingredients:
two sticks of butter (you can mix one stick of butter and one margarine if you prefer, but you need some good old butter in there), cut into pieces (for ease of melting)
two bags of chocolate chips
1 tsp. of vanilla extract
a can of evaporated milk (not condensed)
4 cups of sugar
Tin pans or plastic containers for storage and packaging (well greased)

Directions:

Put butter, chips, and vanilla in large mixing bowl. You want to make sure the bowl is large enough for all ingredients plus room for vigorous stirring. Set aside.
Pour sugar into large sauce pan and add the can of milk. Heat over medium to medium/high until it comes to a boil. Boil 8 minutes, stirring constantly. You may need to adjust your heat from time to time to keep from boiling over, but you need to maintain a good boil as well.
When 8 minutes is up, pour mixture over the chips mixture in the bowl. Stir vigorously until chips and better are melted and mixture is smooth. Pour into containers and allow to cool. We tend to use the 4 or 5 inch decorative tin pans that you can buy at the store. The smaller tins allow you to cool it and then give it as a gift without having to cut it into smaller pieces first. Allow the fudge to cool overnight or until firm. Do not put lids on the containers until the fudge has cooled. This recipe can make about 4or 5 containers of fudge that is about an inch thick.
I will post a follow up to this post with pictures once we make our fudge for this Christmas. It should be just in time for Christmas, as we are planning our Fudge Night for the weekend of the 19th of December. Yes, we do a Fudge Night as we make at least three batches each year.
You may want to keep your eyes open this week as I just may post some more great family recipes throughout the week. ;)

Until next time...Happy Cooking!