In the fall of 2007, we spent a weekend in Park City with the kids. While spending time on Historic Main Street, we happened upon this little candy shop that was tucked away in a little "cubby". We went in to buy the kiddos a treat, and they gave us a sample of their pumpkin fudge. Holy Smokes. We had never tasted anything quite like it. It was AMAZING. They informed us that they only make the pumpkin fudge in the fall, and only for a few weeks. That started a tradition for our little family for the next 3 falls we took a little drive to Park City to get some pumpkin fudge. Throughout the last few years we have tried several other pieces of pumpkin fudge at different places, but no one even came close to the fudge at the Village Candy Shop in P.C. (some of it was so bad that we would throw it away after one little taste!). Well, last fall when we went up to Park City to get fudge we were so sad to see a big sign in the window that said "Store closing: everything 50% off." The owner was there and told us he had sold all of his candy making equipment to someone else, along with his recipes. And because he had included his recipes in the sale, he wasn't able to share his recipe for the pumpkin fudge with us. We were really bummed. We ended up buying all of the pumpkin fudge that he had left (like 5 lb.!!), and we brought it home, cut it into chunks and froze it all. Every time we would take some out of the freezer, we would enjoy every morsel of it knowing we would never be able to get it again.
Well, a couple of weeks ago, I came across a pumpkin fudge recipe on Pinterest from a site called "Recipe Girl". I decided to try it and see if it came anywhere close. Well, I did, and it didn't. The recipe totally flopped. The candy thermometer that I was using didn't end up working and I way over cooked the syrup. When it cooled it was hard as a rock. And the flavor was way off too. My husband doesn't like white chocolate, and he could immediately taste the white chocolate in it more than any other flavor. I was really disappointed, and ended up throwing the whole batch away. Steve was really skeptical about me trying it again, but I wanted to try it and make some changes. It was a SUCCESS! Turned out sooo good. I will admit, that it is not as good as the Village Candy Shop's, but, it is goooood. And it is better than any other pumpkin fudge we have tried. So, what did I do differently? Well, I didn't use my stupid candy thermometer. I just used the "drop in cold water test". I also doubled the pumpkin, and doubled the pumpkin pie spice... to make it more pumpkiny and less white chocolatey. If you are a pumpkin fan, you should definitely try this recipe. It tastes like fall.
Pumpkin Fudge
3/4 cup melted butter
3 cups white sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup canned pure pumpkin (I used 1 cup)
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice ( I used 2 tsp.)
12 oz package of white chocolate chips
7oz jar of marshmallow creme
1 tsp. vanilla
Line a 9x9 square pan (or 10x7, or something around that size) with tin foil and spray with non-stick spray.
Stir together the first 6 ingredients in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until a (working) candy thermometer reads 234 degrees, (soft ball stage). This will take somewhere around 12 minutes. Once it reaches the right temp/consistency, remove from heat and QUICKLY stir in the white chocolate, marshmallow creme, and vanilla. Pour into the prepared pan and let sit for at least 2 hours. When it is completely cooled, cut into squares. Store covered in the fridge.
