Made with condensed milk and only a handful of ingredients, a cozy selection of gingerbread-inspired spices, and no candy thermometer required, this gingerbread spiced fudge is an easy holiday treat that doubles as a sweet edible gift!
I originally shared this Easy Gingerbread Fudge over on Spend with Pennies.
We brought home our Christmas tree last weekend.
Zach seems to have a penchant for particularly plump, squat specimen, and for the second year in a row my dad christened our tree a “Danny Devito tree”.
We disagreed on how it should be decorated — Zach wanted multi-colored lights and …ostentatious… ornaments, I prefer white lights and minimal decoration. This seems to be a little contrary to our normal personality preferences, but we make it work — I got white lights last year so our tree is glittering rainbow this year.
Despite its rather rotund girth and extra-showy sparkle, I love having that tree up in our house. Even though I’ve been posting peppermint desserts since before Thanksgiving, having the tree up and decorated means it’s officially Christmastime in the Merritt household.
I’ve been full of Christmas spirit ever since — I’m not sure if there’s anything quite as cheerfully cozy as baking with the glow of the Christmas lights (even if they are multi-colored) radiating from the family room and the latest rendition of Baby it’s Cold Outside playing from my Mac.
And all that Christmas spirit warranted a batch of Gingerbread fudge.
As I mentioned above, I originally shared this recipe over on Spend with Pennies, and it took me a few tries to perfect the recipe before I shared it.
My sister had been extremely disappointed by a batch she bought at an amusement park that was overwhelmingly spiced and unenjoyable, so as I developed the recipe I was trying to keep the spices sparse, which resulted in a few fairly bland batches of fudge.
As I got a little bolder with the spices, the taste drastically improved until I found the perfect balance of molasses, ginger, and other spices for a melt-in-your-mouth, perfectly spiced (but not overbearingly so) gingerbread spiced fudge that can be made with only a handful of ingredients.
Best part? No candy thermometer required.
Since this gingerbread spiced fudge is made with condensed milk and white chocolate, everything is simply melted together on the stove-top, poured into a pan and allowed to set. Drizzle with white chocolate for decoration if you’d like, and you’re good to go!
Enjoy, and don’t forget to enter in the Amazon giveaway on my last post (courtesy of Holly from Spend with Pennies)!
I also have a question for you — do you prefer to decorate your tree with white lights or multi-colored ones?
Gingerbread Spiced Fudge
Ingredients
- 3 cups premium white chocolate chips
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup white chocolate melting wafers optional
Instructions
- Line an 8x8 pan with aluminum foil and lightly grease or butter the foil. Set aside.
- Combine white chocolate chips, condensed milk, molasses, and butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat.
- Stir frequently until butter and chocolate chips are completely melted and ingredients are completely combined.
- Add vanilla extract and all spices, stir well.
- Pour mixture into prepared 8x8 pan (make sure the pan is on a heatproof surface or oven mitt as the bottom of the pan will become quite hot).
- Allow fudge to cool completely before cutting/decorating (this will take several hours at room temperature, or you can speed up the process and refrigerate 1-2 hours).
- Once the fudge has set, cut and prepare white chocolate melting wafers according to package instructions.
- Pour melted chocolate into a small ziploc bag, snip off a small piece of the corner, and decorate as desired.
- Let chocolate harden (only a few minutes) before enjoying.
- Uneaten fudge can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Other Fudge Recipes to Try
Liz Strickland
White lights for sure. twinkling or colored lights makes me think of a circus. The tree is totally mine. Gonna make the fudge when I can buy the chocolate.
Anita
Would it be possible for you to specify what brand of ingredients you’re using to help those of us that it’s not setting up for, please?
Do you let it start to boil at all when melting?
It tastes great, so I’ll be trying it again to figure out what the issue is and what to do to get it to set up correctly.
Any little tricks or tips you do while making it would be of help.
Thank you. 😊
Sam
Hi Anita! I typically don’t have a strong preference on brand items, with the exception of the white chocolate chips here. I typically use Ghirardelli. It doesn’t need to get to boiling when melting everything together. You really just need it melted and combined. I don’t really do anything special other than what I have listed in the instructions so I hope it turns out better for you next time. 🙂
Toby
This is just AMAZING! It is so easy and delicious. It tastes like gingerbread dough, so yummy. I will share this recipe and make it again.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks so much for your review, Toby! We’re so happy you loved the fudge 😊
Leslie
It worked perfectly for me! Made it as written and it was delicious. Lovely warm spiced flavor with a softly firm consistency. I gave it to family and they were all delighted. Simple to make and tasty, I’ll make it again!
Holly
I just love your recipes Sam! And even after reading the comments about it not working I had to give it ago as it sounded delish! Mine too didn’t set and I used condensed milk and followed recipe I was so gutted! But guess what I took it out of the fridge after it not setting and decided to turn it into fudge sauce and it set while in the cupboard! I think that’s what everyone is doing wrong it needs to set at rom temp not in the. Fridge!
Sugar Spun Run
I am happy that you have enjoyed my recipes, Holly, but sorry to hear that your gingerbread spice fudge did not set. I haven’t experienced any issues when making this so I will try again and test your theory. Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
Sherry J Gillard
White lights for me! So, did we ever discover what was up with the Gingerbread Fudge? I’m not much on fudge, but I’m HUGE on gingerbread! I really wanted to try it.
Sam
Could you tell my husband that we need white lights only. I have never had a problem with the fudge setting, and I have had others try it to make sure they could make it. They have all had success. If you try it, please let me know how it goes for you. 🙂
sugardad
I’ve had the same issue with it not setting. I was worried with such a high liquid to solid ratio that this would be the case. 3 cups white chocolate to 1-3/4 cups condensed milk and 1/4 cup molasses. Far too wet. I even added a half cup of flour and it still set like pudding. Will not bother with this one again.
Stina
Well that was a complete FAIL!! I made this fudge for a Christmas party, took it out the fridge to cut and get ready and the whole thing is soft and not set like fudge is meant to be! I followed every step of your recipe and now I have wasted my time and money on something I can’t even get out of the pan it’s so soft. And now it is too late to make anything else. Thank you but I won’t be making it again. Not happy!
Sam
I’m so bummed to hear this! Is there any chance that you used evaporated milk instead of condensed milk?? I’ve made this so many times and just made it again last weekend without a problem, so I’m not sure what might’ve gone wrong!
Supermonbon
Same issue here. Kinda set but still soft and sticky on the bottom after overnight in the fridge.
I think your recipe is missing specific directions of what point to heat the fudge up to. The internet tells me it needs to be at 261 degrees or “soft ball stage” in order for the sugars to properly crystallize and set the fudge. There’s no way it got that hot by just heating to melting.
Would you mind measuring the temp of yours next time you make it? I’m curious what temp you achieve when it sets properly.
Sam
So the point of making it with condensed milk is so that it doesn’t need a candy thermometer, while it’s important with other recipes like old fashioned recipes that use sugar or evaporated milk (or this one), just melting it is all that I do for this recipe.
I’ve had a few people have this problem, but I’ve tried it a lot of times and I can’t replicate the issue, my only guess could be that evaporated milk was used instead of condensed milk, is that possible? I’m sorry, otherwise I don’ t know why it’s happening.
yaron
I just love a spicy fudge, i’ll try it out very soon, thanks!
Joanne
I love gingerbread and hope to make this fudge. We have a small tree with white lights, but I like the multicolor lights on trees, too.
Amanda
I always have to have my big, bold multicolor lights that look like their from the 50s. I can’t help it. 😉 Yay for no candy thermometer. Gingerbread is my favorite flavor of the season, so I’d love this!