Cocoa fudge (untested)

This handwritten recipe is in a handwriting I don't recognize. It is written on a piece of notebook paper that was folded and tucked into the "Candies" section along with the rest of the recipe cards. The front of this recipe is spattered and I have to wonder if it was spattered with cocoa fudge.

What I love about this recipe is the way it is written in a familiar tone. Reading it feels like the cook is right there giving you instructions in her own voice. Read it. You'll see what I mean. I had to smile as I transcribed it.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Equipment:

• a deep saucepan
• a flat buttered dish
• a large spoon

Instructions:

1. Stir the sugar and cocoa together in the saucepan
2. Add the milk, a little at a time, and stir until very smooth
3. Put the mixture over a low fire and let it boil slowly (whatever you do, don't stir it after it has begun to boil or your fudge will be sugary and hard)
4. When the bubbles grow as a large as a quarter, your fudge is ready to be tested
5. Drop a little from the end of a spoon into a cup of cold water and try to form it into a ball with your fingers. If it is too thin to roll up, then your fudge will be soft and sticky.. If your fudge is stiff and thick, then your fudge will be like a brick. Not too soft and not too thick is the way it ought to be.
6. Take the fudge off the stove
7. Stir in the butter, vanilla and salt
8. Set the pan in a bowl of cold cold water for about ten minutes
9. Everyone may take a hand at beating it to make it smooth and creamy. The butter gives it a shiny look. As the fudge thickens, it loses this shiny glow. At last it begins to harden on the spoon and around the edges of the pan.
10. Then pour it into the buttered dish
11. Cut it into squares and eat