Comanche

A two-layer fudge: a brown (usually chocolate or brown-sugar) batch poured first, a white batch poured over it. Everything depends on catching both batches at the same working stage.

• The hinge is timingBoth batches have to be cooked and ready to pour within a few minutes of each other, so make them in two pans side by side rather than one after the other. If the brown layer sets hard before the white goes on, the two sheets will separate when cut.
• Temperature, not guessworkFudge recipes of the period generally work to the soft-ball stage, tested in cold water; on a thermometer that corresponds to roughly 234-240F. Overcooked fudge tends to set dry and crumbly.
• Beat, then pour fastFudge is beaten off the heat until it loses its gloss and begins to thicken. Pour the brown layer at that point, spread it level, and pour the white the moment it reaches the same stage.
• The buttered panAn 8-inch square pan will take two batches as a layered slab; butter it generously, or line it with parchment and butter that. The recipe assumes the candy is cut in the pan.
• CuttingLet the slab stand at room temperature until firm, an hour or more, then cut with a thin knife wiped clean between cuts. Refrigerating to hurry it along makes the surface sweat and dulls the white layer.
• YieldTwo standard fudge batches in one 8-inch pan give roughly 36 pieces a little over an inch square, or about 64 at a true inch.