How to make Fudge (without cooking sugar)

To put it simply: I like fudge. However it gets a little embarrassing when I get recognised at the local sweet shop and they know exactly what flavour I want and how much of it so I decided to start making my own. 

I began researching it, but all the recipes I found involved a sugar thermometer which I didn't have so I gave up hope. Then I found this recipe. 

Original Recipe

Ingredients:

• 75g Unsalted (Sweet) Butter (Margarine also works)
• 4 Tablespoons Condensed Milk
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 400g Icing (Confectioner's) Sugar
• 25g Cocoa Powder (Hot Chocolate Powder also works)

1.) In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, condensed milk and vanilla extract until smooth. (You may want to hold your breath as condensed milk can whiff a bit.)

 2.) Next, sift the icing/confectioner's sugar and cocoa powder into the mixture until it is smooth. Do this in small quantities until you have mixed in all the sugar and cocoa powder. Towards the end it will get harder to stir it in, but persevere and it will work. You may also have to use your hands as well as a spoon.

3.) Work the fudge which should now be solid, into a ball.

 4.) Dust your work surface with icing/confectioner's sugar and roll out your fudge ball to a thickness of about 2cm. (It depends on what you want to do with your fudge.)

 What do next can differ. You can chop it into cubes or you can use cutters to get different shapes which is what is good about this recipe. (You can guess which method I prefer)

 You can eat the fudge at this stage or you can put it on a baking tray to leave to harden in a cool place.

Variations:

• I made used half quantities for this tutorial so the amounts may look quite small.
• To make different flavours, swap the Vanilla Extract for a different flavouring and add an extra 25g of Icing Sugar to compensate for the loss of Cocoa Powder. If adding colouring and flavouring also add more icing sugar, otherwise the consistency will be too soft.
• I made this last year for some Christmas presents and I completely forgot that there wasn't any butter or cocoa powder at home so I ended up using margarine and hot chocolate powder and surprisingly it worked like the original which made me very happy.