This post is titled "Lemon Meringue Pie Fudge {Made with Real Lemons}". You may be saying to yourself, "Of course 'Real Lemons'. Isn't that overstating the obvious?" Alas, I have found that that is not always the case. While looking for inspiration for a non-chocolate confection for my holiday candy boxes, I came across a delectable-looking photo of Lemon Meringue Pie Fudge online. Perfect! Well, almost. It turns out that the recipe, as well as all the others I was able to find online call for all manner of lemon-flavored substances, except, of course, real lemon. Determined to make Lemon Meringue Pie Fudge a part of my seasonal candy repertoire, I dashed to the kitchen and concocted a sweet, tart, and melt-in-your mouth buttery recipe of my own. Enjoy!
Lemon Meringue Pie Fudge
{Made with Real Lemons}
Active time: approx. 20 minutes
Chill time: approx. 6 hours
Yield: approx. 2 lbs.
- 6 Tablespoons butter
- 2 packages Ghirardelli White Chocolate Chips (11 oz. ea)
- 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 3 cups mini marshmallows
- zest of 2 lemons
- Juice of 1 lemon (approx. 1/4 cup)
- yellow food coloring (optional)*
- 5 cups mini marshmallows
- Confectioners (powdered) sugar for dusting
- Line a 9" square pan with foil, overhanging edges so that the fudge will be easy to pull out when finished. Grease foil with non-stick baking spray. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat.
- Add white chocolate chips, condensed milk, and lemon zest. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until chips have melted and mixture is smooth.
- Remove pan from heat. Stir in the 3 cups of mini marshmallows till melted and smooth.
- Return pan to low heat and stir in lemon juice and optional food coloring. Cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until mixture is thoroughly combined.
- Pour mixture into prepared pan and smooth with a silicone spatula or small offset spatula. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature for an hour.
- In a medium saucepan, over low heat, melt the remaining 6 cups mini marshmallows. Stir constantly. It will look like a sticky mess for quite a while, but will eventually become smooth. Remove from heat, and with a silicone spatula sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, spread the melted marshmallow evenly over the top of the lemon fudge. It can be pretty sticky and may pull up a bit of the fudge, but that's okay. Tap the pan on the counter and gently shake to help level the marshmallow.
- Chill fudge in refrigerator for 5 hours.
- Remove from pan by pulling up the overhanging foil. Dust the top of the fudge with confectioners (powdered) sugar. Then, flip fudge over on to a cutting board and peel off the foil. With the marshmallow side down, gently cut the fudge into squares (Do not try cutting with the marshmallow side up).
- Flip pieces back over so that marshmallow side is up, and finish by dusting with more confectioners sugar.
* To achieve the color of yellow seen in the photos, I replaced 2 ounces of the Ghirardelli white chocolate chips with 2 ounces of Wilton Candy Melts in Yellow.