Harken Back To Peanut Butter Fudge

I have recently been reading a blog called Culinary Concoctions by Peabody.   I love reading the blog and have really enjoyed the recipes but the name of the blog makes my easily distracted mind start to wander. I want to grab the boy Sherman, go through the Way Back Machine and travel to an era gone by . ( I fully understand this is an age qualifier and some most of the younger readers will have no idea what this reference is.   If, however, you remember Rocky and Bullwinkle and Fractured Fairy Tales you might well remember the travels of Sherman and Mr. Peabody.)

Son2 requested a special treat the other day and I thought why not?  This is a very old and very common recipe that I remember from my childhood. It may or may not be older than mid century.  I am not guessing the age of the recipe nor am I revealing how blooming long ago my childhood was.

 If you do exactly as the recipe calls for you should have success.  If you deviate from the instructions, well too bad for you.  (That being said, I am about 650 feet above sea level.  Much higher altitudes might have to adjust the cooking time upward.  If you live somewhere  crazy high you already know how to adjust, but that is just too much math for a cooking tale, so calculate it yourselves.)


                                           Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Fudge








2 cups sugar
1/4 stick butter ( use the real stuff)
1/2 cup milk
1/8 cup clear corn syrup ( Use the Karo light variety and avoid high fructose corn syrup.  The syrup is only used to keep the sugar from re-crystalizing anyway and adds nothing to the sweetness. )
1 pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup peanut butter ( Use any brand but creamy works best for this recipe)


Butter a 9x9 or 8x8 inch square pan.  Put aside. Put sugar, butter, milk, corn syrup, salt and butter in a medium large pot.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Stir and continue boiling for 5 minutes.  Stir constantly!  Do not even think of walking away from the pot during these five minutes!  Remove from heat and add the peanut butter and vanilla.  Let it sit for about 1 minute, then start beating with a wooden spoon.  Continue beating till the mixture loses it gloss and starts to thicken a bit.  Pour quickly into the prepared pan and walk away for about 30 minutes.  Come back and cut the pieces into 1 inch square pieces.  Walk away again until the fudge is completely cool.  ( Good luck with that.  Around here it looked like Pavlov's dogs were hanging around the table. I believe half of it was gone before cool happened.)   Remove and store in an airtight container.  Try to eat just one piece.   I dare you!  I don't even like peanut butter and I love this stuff!