Lazy Girl Fudge

I started my Valentine treat making today. I wanted to make some sort of chocolate but didn't want to commit to an all day ordeal of candy making. I work full time and I have a husband and a dog I like to spend my Saturdays and Sundays with so my weekend time is precious time but I do still love to bake, love to make candy, and love holidays - especially Valentine's Day!

I decided to make some chocolate walnut fudge truffles, using my "Lazy Girl Fudge" recipe.

I call it that because it's the most stupid simple way to make fudge. My mom taught me. And if you know anything about my mother, you know I would never start a sentence with, "My mom taught me how to make [any type of food] ..." She doesn't cook or bake or make candy unless it's just melting things together. She makes the most amazing chocolates and chocolate covered things (like chocolate covered caramel apples ... yum!) but it's all melt and use type stuff.

All you need are two ingredients to make this fudge and whatever nuts or other add-ins you want. It works for making truffles, fudge, and even fudge sauce because you can control the consistency.

All you need is a bag of your favorite chocolate chips (I like Ghirardelli 60% Double Chocolate chips) and a can of sweetened condensed milk (I check the ingredients when I buy it because there are some not-so-main-stream brands that contain chemicals). Chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk. That's it!

Melt the chips in a glass container in the microwave at 20 - 30 second intervals at first, stirring after each, then decrease to 10 - 15 second intervals as it starts to become almost melted. Be very careful not to leave it in too long so you don't burn it. Once it's melted, pour in a little sweetened condensed milk, stir, and check the consistency. Keep adding more of the milk until you get your desired consistency. The more milk, the less firm. It will get a little firmer as it cools so it is a good idea to take a little bit on a spoon and put it in the fridge for a few minutes to test it. You can microwave the mixture after it has set up if you need to.

After I got my "fudge" to the consistency I wanted (a little firmer than regular fudge because I knew I wanted to roll it into balls) I stirred in some chopped walnuts. I formed balls and then rolled them in Valentine sprinkles and set them on wax paper to set.

Delicious!