Cheese for Fudge?

(The Chocolate Falcon Fraud)

Nearly every summer I visit the Mystery Readers Book Club at the Herrick District Library in Holland, Michigan. At one of the meetings, member Carrie Stroh mentioned that she always used a recipe for fudge that called for Velveeta cheese. The recipe came from her mother. Intrigued, to say the least, I knew I had to try it.

Velveeta Cheese Fudge

1 pound margarine or butter

1 pound Velveeta

1 cup cocoa

4 pounds powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

Melt together 1 pound of margarine or butter and 1 pound of Velveeta.

Sift together 1 cup cocoa and 4 pounds of powdered sugar. (That’s a lot of powdered sugar. Use the biggest bowl in the kitchen.)

Mix the sifted cocoa and sugar thoroughly, then add the melted butter and cheese. Add 1 tablespoon vanilla. (I added the vanilla to the butter and cheese first.)

Carrie says, “Stir, stir, stir until your hand cramps. Spread evenly in a buttered 9-inch-by-13-inch pan. Cool and cut into squares.”

I interpreted “Stir, stir, stir” as “beat,” as with traditional fudge. But when I first made the recipe, I discovered that mixing the cheese-butter mixture with the sugar-cocoa mixture is a Job with a capital J. It’s extremely stiff. Beating this would be impossible. But the resulting fudge is perfectly smooth and absolutely delicious.