INGREDIENTS

3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1+ cups peanut butter

DIRECTIONS

Combine sugar, salt and cocoa in a large saucepan and mix with spoon. Add milk and stir until dry ingredients are dissolved. Slowly bring mixture to boil on stove, stirring often. Over low heat, continue boiling and stirring until mixture reaches the soft ball stage.

(Drop a bit off a spoon into a bit of cool water. It is done when mixture rolls easily into a soft ball. A candy thermometer can help here, but it's more fun to wing it. It usually takes around 30 minutes to reach the soft ball stage.)

Remove from heat and add in vanilla. Immediately stir in a generous serving of peanut butter and whip with spoon until peanut butter is blended into fudge. (You can try adding your own ingredients at this stage, but I'm a purist and creamy peanut butter works best.)

Pour fudge into greased candy tray - I use a rectangular glass dish around 6"x10". The size and depth of the dish will determine the thickness of the finished fudge pieces. Fudge will set quickly and can be cut into pieces after about 10 minutes.