I should add: you can use the Ghiardelli chocolate that comes in the big baking bars, just be sure to get enough - bags of chips come in 12 oz. size and the bars are usually only 4 or 6 oz if I remember correctly. And yes, the brand of chocolate does matter, we've tried others and none come out as well as Ghiardelli, each chocolate maker has slightly different ratios of ingredients used to make their chocolates. And use real cane sugar, not beet sugar... something about it also works better. Aside from that, use whatever brands are cheapest or most convenient!

We made your fudge, but I only had salted butter - it turned out just fine. (I was a little worried!) I think the salt actually brought out the flavor of the chocolate.

I will say that with all fudge recipes, the recipes DOES NOT LIE when it says "STIR CONTINUOUSLY" - that has been the absolute key to good fudge, we've found. (Trust me, ask me how last year's batch failed miserably. lol)

Thanks SO much for the recipe!

Yeah, having to stir continuously is the main reason why you absolutely have to have all the ingredients ready to go before even starting the process... if you miss a step or take too long you're screwed! lol I usually have messed it up in the past by not keeping it bubbling at soft ball stage long enough... so now I just do a solid 5 minutes and then look for the sheen on the surface of the mixture. Probably doesn't matter too much if you use salted or unsalted butter, I've just always done it with unsalted out of habit.

Glad you were able to make and enjoy this stuff, my kids always start drooling when I tell them it's time to make Gramma Jane's fudge. :)