Eat Your Fridge: Pumpkin Fudge

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Wondering what you are going to do with that extra pumpkin that did not quite make it into your Thanksgiving pumpkin pie? Well that is the dilemma I had a month ago at Canadian Thanksgiving. I put it in my freezer and forgot about it! Until Janice, an old friend of my husband’s, talked about making pumpkin fudge on Facebook. Pumpkin fudge? You can do that?! I wrote to her and she confirmed, yes, you can! Janice was awesome enough to share the recipe with us. Thanks Janice!

Janice MacLean’s Pumpkin Fudge

Ingredients:

3 cups white sugar
1 cup butter
5 ounces of can evaporated milk
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 cups butterscotch chips
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
1 tsp vanilla

In a saucepan combine sugar, butter, milk, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Continue boiling over medium heat until mixture reaches 234 degrees (approximately 10 minutes).

Suzie Note: OK foodies, this is the scary part! My candy thermometer was not working so I put in a digital thermometer but it was not long enough so my hands were pretty darn close to the fudge! Take my advice. Do not do this. Use a real candy thermometer. I got lucky and did not get hurt but I went on ebay and bought a candy thermometer right after making this! Also, make sure you have ice water on hand in case you get some on you. Which I totally forgot to do until the mixture was bubbling! Bad Suzie!

Remove from heat, then stir in butterscotch chips. When chips are melted, add jar of marshmallow creme and vanilla. Mix until well blended.

Suzie Note: I could not find marshmallow cream anywhere so I made my own, just scroll down to see how I made it.

Immediately pour mixture into buttered or spayed pan. Let cool, then refrigerate.

You know, there is a hint of pumpkin in there all sweetened with the sugar, butterscotch chips and given a kick with the spices! I did not have pumpkin spice mix so I just used a tsp of cinnamon with a dash of cloves. Yummy!

This is a gorgeous fudge and definitely one for sharing! I do not make fudge very often but when I do I know I must give it away because it is lethal. Great for the holidays and a perfect way to eat my fridge, now the freezer has one less zip lock bag in it. Thank you so much Janice and when a pumpkin crosses my path I will be asking you for your pumpkin pickles recipe too.

Even though this was scary to make, all candy making is pretty darn scary to me, the payoff is totally worth it. I would never have believed it had I not eaten it, this pumpkin fudge is the holidays wrapped up in butter, sugar and spices. I give it five out of five wooden spoons.

Marshmallow Fluff/Cream
 
Ingredients
 
7 oz of marshmallows
2 tbsp corn syrup

Melt on a double boiler over medium to high heat until melted, whisking constantly! This gets crazy sticky. I did not want it to harden so after it melted I took it off the heat and covered with a pot lid. Most of it stuck to the pan and the spatula though so if you are going to make this fudge, use the jarred stuff to make your life easier.