Creamy penuche better than grainy

Dear Laura: Can you find a good recipe for penuche (brown sugar fudge)? Every one I try seems to turn grainy when I make it. I would like a recipe that turns out creamy. – Barbara

Dear Barbara: I searched The Spokesman-Review’s Dorothy Dean files and found a few different recipes for penuche. In some versions, it’s called “panocha.” Here are a couple of the recipes. I made the first one, which calls for evaporated milk instead of regular milk. It turned out quite creamy, with an almost melt-in-your-mouth quality to it. The other recipe is different from many recipes I found on the Internet in that it calls for only brown sugar, not a white and brown sugar combination. Give these a try. I think you’ll like them.

Penuche

From Dorothy Dean Homemaker Services

2 tablespoons butter

¾ cup evaporated milk or half and half

1 ½ cups sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup broken nuts

Melt butter in heavy saucepan, swirling it up the sides of the pan to grease well. Add milk and sugars. Heat, stirring until sugars dissolve and mixture comes to a boil. Continue cooking to soft ball stage, 235-240 degrees. Pour mixture into a bowl; cool without stirring to lukewarm, 110 degrees. Add vanilla; beat with wooden spoon until candy becomes creamy and starts to hold its shape but it still glossy. Watch it carefully because it turns fast. Fold in nuts. Pour into buttered 8-inch square pan. Cool, cut into squares.

Yield: 24 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 114 calories, 2.4 grams fat (.7 grams saturated, 19 percent fat calories), 1.3 grams protein, 23 grams carbohydrate, 2.8 milligrams cholesterol, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 23 milligrams sodium.

Panocha

From Dorothy Dean Homemaker Services

2 ½ cups brown sugar

Dash salt

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1 tablespoon butter

¾ cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup chopped nuts

Combine sugar, salt, corn syrup, butter and milk; cook, stirring only until sugar dissolves to soft ball stage 235-240 degrees. Cool at room temperature, without stirring, until lukewarm, 110 degrees. Add vanilla. Beat until mixture holds its shape. Add nuts. Quickly spread in a greased pan. Cool and cut into squares.

Yield: 24 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 112 calories, 2.1 grams fat (.5 grams saturated, 17 percent fat calories), less than 1 gram protein, 23 grams carbohydrate, 1.8 milligrams cholesterol, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 25 milligrams sodium.