How to survive the final push to Christmas: Fudge

Posted on December 23, 2024 by Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Greetings from the ranch, where I’m sitting next to the Christmas tree and am happy to report that it’s still standing despite blatant disregard for the no-cartwheels-in-the-living-room rule.

The elf is making a snow angel in a pile of flour on the kitchen table, and since you last heard from me, I’ve had to come clean about the whole situation, at least to my 9-year-old, who got pretty suspicious when the thing only moved once while we were in Vegas for four days and the grandparents were in charge.

Turns out I forgot to add “move elf for the love of Christmas” to the thanks-for-helping-us-out note.

We’re still standing, too, after those four days in Vegas, where I performed some music and we met up with my Texas family to watch my uncle rope in the World Team Roping Championship.

We were all there for the National Finals Rodeo takeover in Sin City, where thousands of ranch and rodeo families struggle to navigate taxi and Uber rides and try not to get lost or broke among the craps tables and slot machines. I lost $60, my sobriety and my dad at a bar in the Venetian all in a matter of 20 minutes.

In times like these, I would usually just look for the cowboy hat, but when the big rodeo comes to Vegas, everyone in the city is dressed like my dad. Turns out that tracking app we convinced him to put on his phone came in handy when he wandered off to put $20 in the slots only to lose all $20 and his bearings.

It only takes 20 minutes to be reminded that cowboys don’t do well in crowds.

But man, a sea of cowboy hats among the bright lights and sparkle of Vegas has always been the most fabulous juxtaposition to me, and where they house all those horses was a mystery unlocked when my husband and dad were invited to walk among the 2,000+ stalls filled with some of the country’s best equine professionals below the cling and clank of the casino, restaurants and hotel.

What a time to be alive! And what a far cry from the whipped frozen plains at the ranch, our horses haired up and tucked cozy among the oak groves.

We’re home among those frozen buttes now, and whatever time we borrowed from sleep in Vegas, we will be making up for in this final push to Christmas (she whispers as she frantically types to submit this before bedtime and on deadline). Just today, my husband and I made record time finishing the last of the Christmas shopping and errands in time to dress and fluff up Rosie for her Christmas program.

Now all I have left is another grocery store run because I forgot a few things, another shopping trip because I forgot a few gifts, all the wrapping, all the baking, a trip to the elementary school to sing carols with 500 kids, and a Christmas party or two to top it off before we can all kick back and enjoy the holiday.

But first, per tradition, the fudge!

Below I share the recipe, just like I do every year, a small gesture of thanks for following along and for sharing some stories of your own. I have so much gratitude for the opportunity to reflect with you here week after week.

May you find all the joy there is to find this holiday season standing tall and strong against all odds, like our Christmas tree and all the cowboys in Vegas.

Mom’s Famous Fudge

1 12-oz package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 12-oz package milk chocolate chips
3 teaspoons vanilla
4 1/2 cups of sugar
1 pound of butter
1 12-oz can evaporated milk

OK, onward.

Butter an 8-by-12 baking dish.
Bring sugar and evaporated milk to a boil, stirring constantly. Continue to stir and boil for 7 minutes.
Remove pot from heat and stir chocolate chips, vanilla and butter.
Stir until smooth and pour into the buttered baking dish.
Refrigerate until set.

Muster up your incredible strength to cut the fudge into squares and serve it on cute little platters or in festive tins for your friends.

Become the favorite.

How NOT to make my mom’s holiday fudge

Posted on December 26, 2018 by Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Merry day after Christmas. It’s going to take me a good week or two to scrape the Christmas off my floors,

but it was a truly special holiday for so many reasons, the main being that we are all here together, happy and healthy.

And we all survived the fudge making debacle of 2018.

Coming Home: How not to make my mother’s mouthwatering holiday fudge

Brought to you by Carnation evaporated milk, which is NOT Carnation sweetened condensed milk, even though they basically come in the exact same packaging.

First, go to Las Vegas for three or four days in the middle of December, just long enough to get good and sleep-deprived so that when you return home you are utterly exhausted and unprepared for Christmas, which you realize is in, like, 24 hours.

Then, after falling asleep putting the kids to bed at 7 p.m., wake up the next morning determined to give everyone you’ve ever encountered in your life a container of homemade fudge, because that’s what your mom would do.

Now make a list:

8 bags of chocolate chips
1 (or probably 2) giant bags of sugar
Vanilla
4 pounds of butter (you heard me)
4 cans of evaporated milk

After waking up at 5:30 a.m. to get you and the kids out the door for the day, make sure you use your allotted lunch time to take your baby to a doctor’s appointment that lasts a good two hours and ends with a screaming child. Only then will you be in desperate need of a potty break and the perfect amount of discombobulated and starving to really tackle the grocery store and that list that didn’t include a giant Red Bull, a bag of M&M’s and Cool Ranch Doritos, but dang it, you have baking to do.

And bake you shall, but don’t start until around 9:30 p.m. when the baby is sleeping and the toddler will likely only emerge from her room three or four more times, the last just in time to witness you dumping an entire can of rotten evaporated milk across the kitchen and onto your Crocs as you attempt to check the expiration date. (And yes, wear Crocs because it’s what chefs wear and now you know why.)

Because, to do this right, you should buy sweetened condensed milk and pour it in the bowl with four and a half cups of sugar before realizing that you bought four cans of the wrong kind of milk.

Then, you should try to use it anyway and burn the sugar to the bottom of the pan before abandoning that idea and digging through your kitchen cabinets for a can of the right kind of milk, which you will find and wonder about when it pours out in chunks into another four and a half cups of sugar.

Then, and only then, should you call your mother, who will have three extra cans. Send your husband over there. While he’s gone, break into the emergency basement wine and the bag of Doritos and call your sister.

And when your husband returns, he should return with the milk, two new Christmas outfits for the grandkids, leftovers and a partridge in a pear tree. Kiss him and tell him he’s the best husband in the world, and then get into the longest story in the world while you gather your ingredients, measure, mix and pour, so that by 11 p.m. your fudge pans are cooling and he’s elbow-deep in a sink full of dishes and he doesn’t even know what hit him.

Make sure to save him a piece or two before delivering the fudge to co-workers, daycare providers and that lady who once told you about the toilet paper sticking out the back of your skirt.

And when they say, “You shouldn’t have,” make sure to reply, “Oh, it was nothing! Such a simple recipe.”

Click here for the real, full fudge recipe. If you’re not me, it’s so easy and delicious.

Momma’s Mouth Watering Fudge-A Christmas Gift

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

The Merriest Christmas to all of you. I hope you’re reading this and looking forward to a weekend filled with friends and family and laughter and delicious food. To honor your friendship and support I am giving you a gift that has been enjoyed by many families around the countryside here Christmas after Christmas, courtesy of my Momma. You remember her? My Momma, the woman who has Santa Clause’s cell phone number on speed dial and continues to make Christmas the most magical time of the year. Every year.

There she is, buried under presents and squished between a couple other holly, jolly family members...

And one of the ways she does this is by whipping up this recipe and distributing it in fancy little green and red containers adorned with bows to every person who has touched her family’s life or made her laugh or brought her a bottle of wine at the perfect moment a bottle of wine was necessary throughout the year.

Men drool over this. Women hide it in places their families won’t find it. Kids sneak pieces of this heartfelt delicacy while their parent’s have their backs turned. It’s a little bit of heaven in your mouth.

It’s my momma’s fudge..and I’m going to give you the recipe. A recipe that is sure to put you on the top of the “Nice” list year after year.

Make this and even the family members who’ve disowned you will be knocking at your door, apologizing for their wrong doing with a bottle of champaign begging you to forgive them…and please, can I have a piece of that fudge.

It’s that easy.

Really.

I can even make it…all by myself!

Here’s what you need:

1 12 oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 12 oz package milk chocolate chips
3 teaspoons vanilla
4 1/2 cups of sugar
1 pound of butter (No worries, I’ll post my Momma’s instructional aerobic video after Christmas)
1 can evaporated milk

Got it?

Ok, onward.

Butter an 8×12 baking dish
Bring sugar and evaporated milk to a boil, stirring constantly. Continue to stir and boil for 7 minutes.
Remove pot from heat and stir chocolate chips, vanilla and butter.
Stir until smooth and pour into the buttered baking dish
Refrigerate until set
Ask your hubby or the woman in your life with incredible strength to help you cut the fudge into squares
Serve up on a cute platter and stand back and smile as you experience that warm fuzzy feeling that comes with spreading holiday cheer.