The Pumpkin Fudge Failure

After roasting and pureeing my pumpkin I started looking for recipes to use it in.

I found a fudge recipe online from CookingCache.com. I had never made fudge before, but I was confident in my candy making abilities.

I thought there was no way fudge could be harder then caramels, and wanted to give them a try. I failed miserably not once, but twice.

The first time I thought I knew what was wrong, so I tried again. I was wrong on that too. Maybe one of you know what I am doing wrong??

The Ingredients are the same for both attempts (besides the chocolate/butterscotch chip difference noted below)

Pumpkin Fudge

Ingredients:

• 3 cups organic sugar
• 3/4 cup organic unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup organic pumpkin puree
• 1/2 TSP cinnamon
• 1/4 TSP ginger
• 1/4 TSP nutmeg
• 2 cups butterscotch chips
• 1 cup marshmallow fluff or 1 of the little 7 oz jars
• 1 cup chopped pecans (I was going to use walnuts)
• 1 TSP vanilla

Fudge Failure #1

I followed the directions exactly…except I didn’t have butterscotch chips, only chocolate chips and I thought I’d see how that was. Well…this is what happened…

1. In a large pot I combined the sugar, butter, evaporated milk, pumpkin, and spices.
2. I then, stirring constantly, brought it to a boil over medium low until it reached 234º F on a candy thermometer (soft-ball stage).

All was going well up to this point….It registered to the correct temperature and it took the suggested 25 minutes. I then went to do the next step, stir in the chips until melted.

I took the pot off the heat and added the chocolate chips. I instantly knew I had made a mistake. Of course the chocolate was going to seize. This was WAY too hot to mix and melt chocolate into. DUH.

So I threw away my mistake and decided to get some butterscotch chips to try again.

Fudge Failure #2

With butterscotch chips in hand, I knew I was going to get it right this time.

I followed the same first 2 steps and everything was going exactly the same as last time. I was so excited! I was totally convinced it was going be PERFECT.

Then I went to add the butterscotch chips… My results?  Exactly the same as last time. I have no idea what went wrong, or if it’s just the recipe.

If anyone knows what’s wrong, I’d love to know! Also…if anyone has a recipe for pumpkin fudge they know definitely works and they are willing to share it with me please send me a message on Twitter or Facebook!