I'm a born and raised in Texas girl, and my family LOVES Tex-Mex food. When I was a little girl there was a local restaurant called The Monterrey House. They would give you these little bits of candy in the chip basket that were Mexican candies called Leche Quemada.
I loved those little candies, and even now 20-30 years later - god, I feel old - I still remember the taste and never can find anything like it. So, I've been on a hunt. I found a recipe that was literally 4-5 hours long. Who does that? I'm not stirring for 5 hours. Then yesterday I found penuche. It's brown sugar fudge. It tastes almost exactly like those little candies. So, today I attempted my own. Most recipes have heavy cream in them. But, I looked for a recipe that had marshmallow creme in it because that's what I had on hand. Plus, on a snowy and icy day in Texas (Yes! Our first White Christmas ever I think!), you don't leave the house because down here we don't know how to drive in that kinda weather.
So, after cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, my reward was this recipe. I made the penuche tonight and it's heavenly. It literally melts in your mouth, but it's very rich. One little piece will do you, and if you eat more, you will feel the sugar overload. My 8 year old loved the taste and texture combination. Everyone else was asleep, so he was my only taste tester so far, but he's usually the best taste tester. He loves all his momma's cooking :D.
This recipe has an option of nuts, but I left them out as a lot of my family (i.e. me) doesn't like nuts.
Penuche Fudge
2 tbs butter - cold
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
2/3 c evaporated milk
5 oz marshmellow creme
1 tsp vanilla
1 c pecans - OPTIONAL
Line a loaf ban with foil or plastic wrap.
In a 2 or 3 qt sauce pan, warm milk on medium then add white and brown sugar. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until rolling boil. Then, add the marshmallow creme. Stir and stir and stir until the marshmallow creme is completely melted.
When the mixture is back to a rolling boil set the timer for 5 minutes. STIR CONSTANTLY! Do not stop stirring until the timer goes off. Then pull the pan off the heat, mix in the vanilla. Drop in the butter, as one big piece is fine, and let it sit for 2 minutes without stirring. The butter will be mostly melted at the end of the 2 minutes. Then, vigorously stir until well mixed -- for this I used a metal whisk.
Pour entire contents into loaf pan and allow to set until firm. Mine set in about an hour's time. Then, remove the plastic wrap/foil from loaf pan and cut fudge into squares. Store in a covered container for up to a week.
