Plus, we interview Eisenhower historian
Carol Hegeman for details about this historical recipe
When Pam asked me to try making the first-ever recipe featured on the blog — Mamie Eisenhower’s Million Dollar Fudge — I suspected it had something to do with her not wanting six pounds of fudge hanging around her house. But I like baking and I love chocolate — so I agreed. We know Mamie Eisenhower as the woman who launched five million pink bathrooms. As First Lady, Mamie was a well known penny pincher and coupon clipper — one of the qualities that endeared her to American women. She was massively popular in post-World War II America, so when her fudge recipe was published in print publications, it was an immediate hit. Hey — I can do this, right? Right?
Pam, a Mamie groupie, found the recipe on Wikipedia — it is a PDF provided from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library — this is an historical document!
I should have suspected from the start that I was a bit in over my head. When I read the recipe, it left me with many questions.
Mamie’s Million Dollar Fudge
4 1/2 cups sugarpinch of salt2 tablespoons butter1 tall can evaporated milk12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate bits12 ounces German-sweet chocolate1 pint marshmallow cream2 cups nutmeatsBoil the sugar, salt, butter, evaporated milk together for six minutes.Put chocolate bits and German chocolate, marshmallow cream and nutmeats in a bowl. Pour the boiling syrup over the ingredients. Beat until chocolate is all melted, then pour in pan. Let stand a few hours before cutting.Remember it is better the second day. Store in tin box.
What are “nutmeats”? Unfortunately, my assistant wasn’t much help in this department. Pam confirmed my suspicion that nutmeats are indeed just nuts without shells. And, a quick internet search revealed that a tall can of evaporated milk would be 16 oz (2 cups). Armed with this information, I went to the grocery store to track down the ingredients.
One might ask, “How much does Million Dollar Fudge cost?” Here is a breakdown of my expenses:
2 cans of evaporated milk — $1.78
12 oz of semisweet chocolate — $3.19
12 oz of German sweet chocolate — $9.87
2 Jars of Marshmallow fluff — $2.98
4 lb bag of sugar — $2.69
bag of walnuts (least expensive nut at the store) — $6.57
(I already had butter and salt)
Total: $27.08
That isn’t a million dollars, but it felt kinda pricey for a pan of fudge. You could save money buy buying the ingredients over time, when they are on sale. I’ve also seen others on the internet who have substituted Hershey’s chocolate for the German sweet chocolate and left out the nuts for a less expensive and equally tasty version, so if you don’t want to drop nearly $30 on fudge, that would be another way to keep the cost down. However, our quest was for absolute historical accuracy, so I wanted to follow the recipe to a T.
With my ingredients purchased, I set out to see if this fudge really tasted like a million dollars.
I started with a pot — which I have since decided is not large enough. Once the mixture gets to a boil, it doubles in size. I spent the entire time it was boiling trying to prevent a boil over! If I were to make this fudge again, I would use a MUCH bigger pan.
Now comes the sugar. Four and a half cups of it! Just over half of a four pound bag. That’s a lot of sugar.
Next add the evaporated milk. I needed just over one can (apparently these are medium height cans) to get the “tall” can of milk the recipe called for. My husband nearly gave me a heart attack because he asked me why pumpkin pie filling was in fudge. I think whoever designed the label on this particular can of evaporated milk could have done a better job with the picture choice.
Once you add the evaporated milk, butter and pinch of salt, don’t turn on the stove quite yet. You need to prep the rest of the ingredients so that everything is all ready to go when you have a boiling vat of sugar slurry on your hands.
Get a large bowl (I used my mixer) and add the semisweet chocolate…
The German sweet chocolate (which you will have to break up)…
Both jars of marshmallow Fluff. Why am I making this face? I have never used Marshmallow fluff before and quite frankly, it grosses me out. Plus it is super messy and sticky. The whole time I was scooping it out of the jars, I was wondering who actually eats fluffernutter sandwiches — and if they eat them for dessert or for a meal.
Add the nutmeats! I’m going to use that term as often as I can from now on. Nutmeats nutmeats nutmeats!
Then it is back over to the stove to start the boiling process. As you can see I’m trying to prevent a boil over in this photo. Save yourself the hassle and use a bigger pan folks!
After six minutes of boiling, it is time to pour your syrup over your bowl full of goodies — carefully of course — that syrup slurry is hot.
Then stir until all the chocolate is melted — I used the lowest speed on my mixer.
After everything seemed to be well mixed, I checked for chocolate lumps — it was all ready to go — the only lumps were nutmeats. Nutmeats nutmeats nutmeats!
Then I poured the mixture into a 9×13 pan. I realized a few things after I completed this step. 1) I should have used two pans because this was some thick fudge, and 2) I probably should have sprayed the pan before I poured the mixture in. Uh oh.
Then all you can do is wait. At least four or five hours and maybe longer to let your fudge set up.
I kept telling myself, “Remember, it is better the second day.”
But then the second day came and it was still the consistency of thick frosting once you broke through the top crust.
I later put it in the freezer to see if that would help, but it didn’t.
I think one of two things might have gone wrong. Either I didn’t boil the mixture long enough (because of the boil over problems I was having — USE A BIG POT! — or because the fudge was so thick it was not setting up very fast at all — USE TWO PANS!
I will say that even in its frosting form, this is some tasty fudge…err…fudge frosting. My husband and I tried to cut a piece out after seven hours to try it and ended up using a spoon, but we both agreed that the taste was delicious.
I’m not quite sure how long it will take to set up — if it ever does — or how many months it will take us to eat six pounds of this stuff, but it is good!
The morning after I made the fudge, Pam was eager to hear how the it had turned out. She knew that it had been slow to set. We had a little chat on Google instant messenger:
Pam: Hows the fudge? haha
me: ummm still runny. I hope I didn’t mess it up! It is the consistency of thick frosting! Tasty though…
Pam: hmmmm. Maybe that becomes part of the story. Put it in the fridge?
me: I think one of two things happened, either I didn’t boil it long enough (it kept nearly boiling over) or it is too thick and taking a long time to set up. I put it in the freezer.
Pam: Did you turn the heat down once it was boiling? I think a low boil would be the preferred, not a boily boil.
me: It was a low boil — anything more than that would have exploded! The stuff doubled in size when it was boiling!!!I will advise readers to use a larger pan
Pam: Did you use a real heavy pan? Nothing lightweight
me: I used a Revereware pot
Pam: yes, I would say that’s too light. I am thinking cast iron or dutch oven, something that holds the heat. but what do I know.I might have to do this now. Although i do NOT need a bunch of fudge at my house!
Maybe we ask readers to send us their photos and tips for getting it right…
me: Yes, I do not need a bunch of fudge either! This is the story of how to make million dollar fudge: or how I gained 10 lbs working for Pam!
Pam: yes haha I will fatten you right up between the fudge and the blogger’s butt syndrome.
me: hahahaha
History of Mamie Eisenhower and her million dollar fudge
Interested to learn more about Mamie’s Fudge, I contacted Carol Hegeman, Supervisory Historian at the Eisenhower National Historic Site to ask how Mamie came up with the recipe for her famous Million Dollar Fudge. You will recall, we interviewed Hegeman a while back about Mamie Eisenhower and why the pink bathrooms bonanza.
Surprisingly enough, Carol doubts that Mamie came up with the recipe herself, but verified that the recipe that Pam found was the real deal — which concerned us since Mamie’s recipe has been adapted many times. To bring home her point that Mamie didn’t author the Million Dollar Fudge recipe, Carol sent a few sample pages from a book called Ike the Cook: Dwight D. Eisenhower : General, President and Cook (affiliate link) by Edward and Candace Russoli, which surprisingly made me feel a little better about my fudgetastrophy. Apparently Mamie wasn’t the best cook — it was Ike who ran the kitchen:
Luckily Ike had been cooking for years and was quite handy in the kitchen, because Mamie knew nothing of the culinary arts. She had grown up with a family cook, so the only reason to wander into the kitchen was to ask for a cookie. She did make one effort to learn something when she joined a cooking class at the Y. However, she only stayed long enough to learn how to make mayonnaise. “I was a cooking-school dropout,” she laughed. But Mamie was Ike’s biggest supporter, and with her ringside encouragement he perfected his pot roast, successfully seared his steaks and flipped his flapjacks with finesse.
Mamie’s culinary claim to fame really was her fudge. It was such a family favorite that Ike christened it “Mamie’s Million Dollar Fudge.” Even though she could only actually make the candy and mayonnaise, Mamie kept a recipe file of a dozen or so Eisenhower family specialties which she was always happy to share with anyone who asked. Some of her file cards included recipes for Devil’s Food Cake, with Seven Minute Frosting, Frosted Mint Delight, Deep Dish Apple Pie, Tomato Pudding, Fluffy Turnips, Sugar Cookies, Danish Tomatoes, Baked Seafood Casserole, Baked Caramel Custard and General Eisenhower’s Quail Hash.
Oh oh. Pam just google messaged me wanting to talk about Devil’s Food Cake, Frosted Mint Delight, Fluffy Turnips… and Quail Hash. Holey nutmeats, what have I gotten myself into this time?
karen says
Oh, haha. I see someone already pointed this out. LOVE vintage recipes, by the way! More of this please!
karen says
hum… a little investigative reporting here. Look at this ebay listing for two vintage glass jars (Skippy PB and Marshmallow Fluff). The jars are described as “18 oz” of PB and “7.5 oz” of Fluff. Now, the jars are roughly the same size (the Fluff jar looks bigger, in fact). So — might these be measurements of WEIGHT? So, you used two 7.5 oz jars, aiming for 16 LIQUID ounces (i.e. a pint) but in fact used 15 ounces of Fluff by WEIGHT, which is a LOT of Fluff!!!! So, IF you redo, I’d suggest, yes, maybe 12 oz of milk instead of 16, but definitely MEASURE the fluff (two cups). Not, uh, a pound?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Collectible-last-Glass-jars-Marshmallow-Fluff-Skippy-Creamy-Peanut-Butter-18-oz-/170916960143?_trksid=p3284.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D21%26pmod%3D120978165208%26ps%3D54
lynda says
I think there may be some answers on this site. I like to look at the comments to see what problems others had with the recipe. This looks like the same recipe. The suggestions are to use a thermometer, as one of the posters above has already suggested. Another suggestion was not to scrape the sides of the pan while the mixture is boiling. Scraping the sides will make the fudge grainy. The can of evaporated milk to use is 12 ounces and someone suggested using 2-7 ounce jars of marshmallow fluff (or cream) as a substitute for the 2 cups called for in the recipe below. Hope this helps. Maybe Kate can try again around the holidays and report back.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/million-dollar-fudge/
Barb S. says
I absolutely loved this post and the conversation that followed. I love vintage recipes, and I am always shocked by the absurd ingredients. So many sardine and hard-boiled egg recipes. I think I have a whole cookbook filled with that yukky combination. No wonder people were thinner then!
The one thing that stood out to me and made me laugh was the pumpkin pie filling comment from Kate’s husband. Many of us are so used to cooking with packaged foods… he must not have realized that pumpkin pie filling can actually be made from scratch, too (and one ingredient would be evaporated milk) .
SO cute, I hope this will be a regular topic on the site. Thanks!!!
Kate says
Glad you enjoyed it Barb S. — but are you sure you want me baking/cooking on a regular basis? Imagine the possible results! Yikes!
Janet in CT says
I don’t know about other areas of the country, but here in the Northeast there are numerous gift shops and country stores that sell fudge. I stand there in awe of all the different kinds of fudge and I just can’t imagine how someone makes all of that successfully! I can manage maybe ONE kind and that’s it. Not sure why but I have this total inability to read any kind of thermometer. It is as if my eyes just refuse to focus. The soft ball/hard ball thing never seemed to pan out either so until I did the simple one with chocolate chips, my fudge was never right. Recently I purchased a digital thermometer with a probe kinda thingey that hangs on the edge of the pan and I just love it! I use it for french fries and candy and anything else demanding a certain temperature and I have greatly reduced my failures! I think not cooking long enough is the big culprit in my case because I am just not a patient cook and I probably jumped the gun thinking it was done enough.
Janet in CT says
Oh, and I have had the rock hard Chisel Fudge too!
Hillary says
I (try to) make Hershey’s cocoa fudge (non-marshmallow kind) every Christmas. I never seem to get the hang of it, but mine usually sets up too hard. There seems to be about a one-millisecond period of time between no-ball and hard-ball that encompasses soft-ball stage. I generally have a lump roughly shoved into a glass pan and a spoon covered in petrified fudge at the end. It tastes good, you just need an icepick to get at it. 😉
Kate says
I’m not sure which is a worse fudgetastrophy Hillary! Rock hard that you need a chisel to eat, or fudge soup!
Nancy says
I’ve had the Hershey fudge problem too.
The trick is to think of the hard fudge as a chocolate hard candy–it tastes just as good (unless the milk was burnt). Also, it helps to cut it before it sets.
And the soupy chocolate can be put back in the pot and brought back to a boil.
Microwave fudge is a lot easier. *sighs*
Jeanne2 says
My mother made tons of successful fudge back in the day and I’m sure she used her copper-clad Revereware because that’s all we ever had. I’m voting for too much milk AND maybe not boiling it long enough. I seem to remember my mom testing it by dropping a bit in a cup of cold water. It would make more sense to judge it by the soft ball method since boiling time would also vary by elevation. That’s something I have learned the hard way since moving to a mile-high home.
Btw, I’m a pretty solid baby boomer and had never until today heard of Fluff. Marshmallow creme, sure. Is Fluff an eastern thing?
Kate says
I don’t think Fluff is an eastern thing — I live in the midwest (Wisconsin) and I found it here…
Jeanne2 says
So I checked out the ‘Fluff finder’ on the marshmallow fluff website and to the best of my quick calculations there are only about 5 stores west of the Mississippi that sell Fluff… sadly none within a days drive of me.
To add to the debate, check out the FAQs about Fluff fudge failure and the info about weighing the fluff: http://www.marshmallowfluff.com/pages/faq.html Yes, I’ve become obsessed!
pam kueber says
yikes, a researchin’ woman after my own heart!
Kate says
I checked the “Fluff Finder” and it only lists 4 grocery stores in Wisconsin, none of which are anywhere close to the one I bought my Fluff at…so I’m thinking the Fluff Finder may be flawed. Here’s hoping you can find some at a store near you!
pam kueber says
The fluff finder is flawed! The fluff finder is flawed! The fluff finder is flawed! Today’s tongue twister!
Carole says
I told hubby about this and then had to look up my moms recipe (hers was similar but w/ less ingredients). It was called Fantasy Fudge, but I think was probably similar to the 5 Minute Fudge listed above.
Hubby laughed recalling a family story…His grandmother was a professional chef (catering dinners at the White House at one time), but she could not make fudge to save her neck. No matter how many times she tried, the fudge would not set up. My mother-in-law said they ate a lot of fudge sauce on their ice cream over the years, so I guess it wasn’t a total loss. lol
pam kueber says
great story!
Gretchen Evirs says
I make fudge every Christmas, and often use Revereware. it could be that you had too much evap. milk, but i find that when mine doesn’t set it is usually because it didn’t cook long enough. I always use a candy thermometer to reach the soft ball stage, 236 degrees, it takes about 12 minutes.
Nicole says
Fudge Soup! I agree with everyone – sounds yummy on ice cream!
Kate says
It isn’t quite “soup” — more like peanut butter consistency. Still very tasty though! I’m sure I could microwave it and make it “soup.”
pam kueber says
Yes, I vote for hot fudge sauce. An ice cream Sunday party!
Melissa says
……….It sounds like you accidentally made yourself a huge batch of Nutella minus the hazelnut. 🙂