Sea Salt and Caramel Fudgelicious

Happy New Year, y’all! I decided to stop on a dime and share this recipe during Christmas last week because I sorta, kinda, developed it accidentally and the beloved farmer and I think it is worthy of opening our own bakery. Yes, we’re good at celebrating the small things. But, it occurred to me that y’all may have been looking for new goodies to wow your family and perhaps you needed it asap. I’m just now getting around to sending out the newsletter, however. So at this point, I guess you can treat ’em on New Year’s Day!

Sea Salt and Caramel Fudgelicious

3 cups sea salt caramel baking chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
Dash of salt (yes, more salt. Don’t judge, the salty with the sweet is a perfect combo)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

So, the dark fudge you see in the picture is my Aunt Marleta’s No-Fail Christmas Fudge. You can find it in my storytelling cookbook Hungry is a Mighty Fine Sauce. As the name implies, it has never, but never failed me. You just can’t say that for all fudge, (sorry fudge.) Interestingly enough, that, Aunt Leta’s blue ribbon fudge, is the story of how this second winner was born.

I was wanting to make two types of fudge to include in my thank you gifts to my radio sponsors this year. (Again, huge thx Jim Taylor Chevrolet and Ford, Simmons Sporting Goods, Wintersmith Computers, and Winnsboro State Bank for keeping me on the air!) I knew I was going to make Aunt Leta’s, and this past year I’ve fallen hard for these sea salt caramel chips as a star in all kinds of sweet dishes, so it was kind of a no-brainer. I made the substitution and wow, oh, wow. Don’t miss these folks.

Just stir the chips together with the sweetened condensed milk and that dash of salt. (Don’t take a spoon and eat the remaining condensed milk lovliness that refuses to drip out of the can. That’s just not cool. I mean, probably not, but who’s looking?) Heat on the stove over a medium-low heat until the chips melt. Remove it and stir in the vanilla and pecans. Pour into a folio-lined square baking pan and refrigerate. once it sets (about an hour and a half) turn the foil over onto a cutting board and slice into squares. VOILA! You can thank me later. Merry, merry, merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year to you and yours~

Hugs, Shellie