Easy Gumdrop Fudge

Looking for a simple, never fail Christmas fudge recipe? This Easy Gumdrop Fudge recipe is as simple as it gets. It’s a popular treat on holiday goodie trays and makes the perfect gift for friends and family.

The holidays are a great time to explore candy making, especially if you or any of your family members have a sweet tooth. Homemade candies such as Apple Cider Caramels and Peppermint Patties are fun to create and make for fun edible gifting.

Gumdrop Fudge

Here in Canada, we have a store called Bulk Barn. During the holidays it is full of Christmas themed food ingredients and decorations like sparkly sprinkles and coloured candy melts. My favourite by far are the baking gumdrops.

They’re only available at Christmas (and they sell out quickly) so when I see them, I buy a huge bag to last me through the year. It’s much easier than buying several boxes of dots candy and picking out the red and green gumdrops (which I have done!).

Believe me when I say, I am stingy with those gumdrops. A recipe must be truly great in order to be ‘gumdrop worthy’ (Seinfeld reference). This Christmas Gumdrop Fudge is so good it is ‘gumdrop worthy’ indeed.

For a fudge recipe, it comes together in no time at all…you won’t be standing at a stove, stirring until your arm falls off. It’s as easy as melt, mix, and pour. No fail fudge means you can’t go wrong with this recipe. Better yet, everyone will love this sweet and creamy Christmas candy with pops of fruity flavour.

As fudge recipes go, this creamy vanilla fudge with gumdrop candy is my favourite. However, my husband says he prefers chocolate fudge with nuts or a rich peanut butter fudge. What is your favourite fudge flavour?

Gumdrop Fudge Ingredients

Four ingredient fudge. It’s my Christmas present to you. Happy Holidays!

• Condensed Milk
• White Chocolate Chips
• Vanilla Extract
• Gumdrop Candy

Now I don’t know if there’s any other kind of condensed milk other than sweetened condensed milk. Make sure you buy the sweet thick milk and not evaporated milk, which is just milk boiled down and condensed with no sugar added. They are not interchangeable in recipes.

While this is a recipe for white chocolate fudge made with white chocolate chips, you can experiment by adding semi sweet chocolate or milk chocolate chips instead. They would change the flavour profile entirely, so omit the gumdrop candy and add walnuts. Voila! A bonus fudge flavour giftwrapped just for you.

If you can’t find bulk gumdrop candy, I recommend buying several boxes of dots candy and picking out the red and green dots for this recipe. Other great substitutes include Mike and Ikes, regular gumdrops, or spiced gumdrops.

Or forget about the candy altogether. This creamy vanilla scented fudge would go well with Oreo bits, festive sprinkles, or dried fruit (cranberries, tart cherries, or strawberries) and nuts (pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts)

How to Make Gumdrop Candy

To begin, line a 9 x 9-inch square pan with parchment paper.

Place the chocolate chips, condensed milk, and vanilla extract in a medium saucepan and heat over medium low heat. Stir the mixture continuously until the ingredients become melted into one smooth mixture. NOTE: Keep the as low as possible and keep stirring to prevent the chocolate from scorching.

Once all the chocolate has melted remove heat and quickly stir in the gumdrops. Immediately pour the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth out the surface. Allow to cool to room temperature, then chill the fudge in the fridge for two hours.

Remove the chilled fudge from the fridge and lift it out of the pan. Place the fudge on a cutting board and let it warm up for a few minutes. Next, use a sharp knife to trim the rough edges before you start cutting perfect one-inch squares.

If you are using a 9 x 9 pan you could have 81 squares of fudge (without trimming). However, trimming will decrease your yield while at the same time giving you an excuse to sample the fudge. Your yield will also depend on how big you cut the squares. I suggest keeping them small, between 1-2 inches.

Store the fudge in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week and in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Allow the fudge to come back to room temperature before serving.

If you make this Easy Gumdrop Fudge recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Pinterest for my latest recipes. Also, if you do make this recipe, please tag me on Instagram, I’d love to see what you guys are making! Thank you so much for reading my blog.