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Dessert

Peanut Butter Fudge

A sweet fudge made with sugar, molasses, milk, salt, marshmallow whip, peanut butter, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Peanut and walnut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 241 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Peanut Butter Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fudge

  1. Combine sugar, molasses, hot milk, and salt in a saucepan.

  2. Boil for three minutes after it starts boiling, stirring constantly.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in marshmallow whip.

  4. Add peanut butter and the lump of butter, then beat until stiff.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into buttered pans and let sit until the next day.

  2. Score the fudge before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Peanut + walnuttop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together241 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Milk + peanuttop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,048 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Butter + walnuttop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar
Provides sweetness and the bulk that sets into the fudge's body.
Table molasses
Adds depth, moisture and a deeper, caramel-like flavor.
Hot milk
Dissolves the sugar and adds moisture and richness to the fudge.
Marshmallow whip
Adds softness and a smooth, creamy texture to the finished fudge.
Peanut butter
Contributes peanut flavor and fat for a rich, creamy texture.

The step that matters

Boil for three minutes after it starts boiling, stirring constantly. Boiling the sugar mixture to the right point controls how much water remains, which determines whether the fudge sets firm or stays soft. Constant stirring prevents sugar from scorching or crystallizing unevenly.

Swap the peanut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, milk, butter, walnut):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pecansfits about as well
  3. Pistachiofits about as well
  4. Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, milk, butter, walnut. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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