Mix sugar, cocoa, milk, corn syrup, and salt in a large, heavy saucepan or Dutch oven.
Place over medium heat and stir faithfully until sugar is melted. Bring to boil and cook to soft-ball stage (234° Fahrenheit). Stir occasionally to prevent sticking and scorching.
Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla.
Let cool to 110° without stirring. While the fudge is cooling, butter the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square pan.
Beat the fudge with a wooden spoon until it becomes very thick and loses its gloss. Quickly pour into the prepared pan. Score while warm into 1-inch squares, then allow to cool thoroughly for several hours or overnight.
Cut with a sharp knife when cool, dipping the knife into hot water between cuts if necessary. Store the fudge between layers of waxed paper in a sealed container in a cool place.
and Because I Said So: 33 Mothers Write About Children, Sex, Men, Aging, Faith, Race & Themselves (Harper
Collins 2005, 2006). In 2003, her first novel, Wintering: A Novel of Sylvia Plath (St. Martin's Press, Anchor Books 200
was published to international acclaim. Translated into thirteen languages, Wintering received the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and a Prix des Lectrices de Elle in France. Her latest book is Cakewalk, A Memoir (The Dial Press, May 2010), the result of a lifelong love of sugar and stories. She lives in San Francisco with her family—journalist and Salon.com founder, Gary Kamiya, and their two children.
