Chocolate Pecan Fudge

This is one of the fudges I made for the Christmas buckets: chocolate pecan fudge. Unfortunately, this time around I cooked it a little too long so it turned out slightly crumbley and not as smooth as it should be. Oh well, it tastes fantastic, and now the boyo knows what to get me for Valentines Day ;)

Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups sugar
4 oz. chocolate chips
1/2 stick salted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 lb. chopped walnuts

Directions:
1. Combine heavy cream, sugar and chocolate chips in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until sugar dissolves. Wash down sides of pot with a pastry brush to dissolve sugar crystals.
2. Bring to a boil and cook (stir only once or twice during) until mixture reaches soft-ball stage, or 238 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove pan from the heat and stop the cooking by plunging pot in a water bath for 1 minute. Add the butter and vanilla, but do not stir.
3. When the thermometer reads 110 degrees, mix fudge with a wooden spoon until creamy. Add the nuts and mix well.
4. Spoon into a greased 8 x 8 baking pan. Let cool and then cut into squares.

Yield: 1 lb.