Family is like fudge—mostly sweet, with a few nuts” has been printed on many gift items, such as T-shirts and bumper stickers. “Families are like fudge…mostly sweet with a few nuts” has been cited in print since at least 1998 and is of unknown authorship.
 
 
Google Books
Boomerang Joy:
Joy that goes around, comes around: 60 devotions
By Barbara Johnson
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
1998
Pg. 193:
Well, families are like fudge — mostly sweet with a few nuts.
   
KRAMER-L Archives
From: “John Cramer”

Subject: [KRAMER-L] Kramer/Cramer genealogy
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 15:11:30 -0500
(...)
Families are like fudge .. mostly sweet with a few nuts.
 
1 November 1998, San Antonio (TX) Express-News, “Random Notes” by Linda Vaughan:
“Families are like fudge…mostly sweet with a few nuts.”—Donna Leavy
     
ClubPlanet.com
sunnyhost
07-31-02, 11:43 AM
(...)
My family is like fudge…mostly sweet, with a few nuts (including me!)
 
11 May 2003, The Post-Crescent (Appleton, WI), “Grand Chute woman’s life work is caring for her eight adopted kids” by Kara Patterson, pg. A1:
One handcrafted sign reads, “A family is like fudge—mostly sweet with a few nuts .”
 
Google Books
Baking With Splenda:
A Healthy Exchanges Cook Book
By JoAnna M. Lund with Barbara Alpert
New York, NY: The Berkley Publishing Group
2006
Pg. 4:
“Families are like fudge . . . mostly sweet with a few nuts.” — Author unknown
 
Google Books
A Cultural Affair:
A Novel
By Edward Anthony Gibbons
Bloomington, IN: iUniverse
2008
Pg. 84:
“A conglomerate, however, my family is like fudge – mostly sweet, with a few nuts, it will be a change meeting your family.”