This time, Julie and I tackled fudge. She found 3 wonderful recipes to try: creamy chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, and chocolate mint fudge. Instead of going step-by-step through all the recipes I will list the ones we did (with pictures, of course) and tell you what we learned/would do differently. We began with the recipe we thought to be the easiest. It turns out none were difficult (if you have patience over the stove stirring the chocolate. If Julie wasn't there I would have surely become distracted.) The Smiths have what I remember to be a 5 lb bag of chocolate chips from Costco. I am embarrassed to say I couldnt keep that in my house. It would be the death of me. I think I need a Costco membership...one day.
Onto the recipes...
Creamy Chocolate Fudge
1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow crème
1 ½ cups white sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 cup semi sweet chips
¼ cup butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 cups chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
1) Line an 8 x 8 dish with aluminum foil.
2) Boil over medium heat: marshmallow, sugar, milk, butter, and salt. Bring to full boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
3) Remove from heat, add chips. Stir until smooth. Add vanilla and chill until firm.
This would be my pick for a 'go-to' chocolate fudge recipe. It was SO SIMPLE. You cannot go wrong. VERY fudgey and creamy. The alumninum foil worked well. Each recipe had a different suggestion. Whereas the alumnium foil was not terrible, it could stick to the chocolate or make it appear wrinkle and for that reason I would recommend wax paper.
Peanut Butter Fudge
4 cups white sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
12 ounces peanut butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
Directions:
1) Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish, set aside.
2) In a saucepan, combine sugar, milk, and butter. Bring to a boil, and cook 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the marshmallow creme and peanut butter. Gradually stir in the flour. Spread into the prepared pan, and let cool.
This was my personal favorite. We did make an alteration. The peanut butter needed a chocolate layer on top so we used the recipe from the Chocolate Mint Fudge recipe below as a top layer. It transformed into a homemade Reeses Cup. I would highly recommend this recipe. The consistency has more of a sugar texture and less of a creamy texture. It is likely due to the flour. It was the only recipe that contained flour. I DO think you need to "let cool" in the frig. It eventually ended up in the frige and set MUCH better after sitting in the fridge for a night.
Ingredients:
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 ounces)
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk, divided
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 ounces white candy coating
2-3 teaspoons peppermint extract (TOO MUCH IN OUR OPINION)
3 drops green food coloring (I would add 5)
Directions:
1) In a heavy saucepan, melt chocolate chips with 1 cup milk.
2) Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla.
3) Spread half into a waxed paper-lined 8-in. square pan; (I personally prefer to line the pan with foil and grease the foil with butter) chill for 10 minutes or until firm.
4) Meanwhile, in a heavy saucepan over low heat, cook and stir candy coating with remaining milk until coating is melted and mixture is smooth.
5) Stir in peppermint extract and food coloring.
6) Spread over bottom layer; chill for 10 minutes or until firm.
7) Warm remaining chocolate mixture if necessary; spread over mint layer.
8) Chill for 2 hours or until firm.
9) Remove from pan; cut into 1-in. squares.
This is similar to candy and less like the fudge we imagined. I think we all agreed the mint was strong even using just 2 drops. It did look pretty on the plate and would be great for St. Patty's Day. I even like mint and chocolate but this was probably my least favorite.
Us with our POUNDS and POUNDS of fudge (don't worry...we didn't eat it all ourselves)!
We tried to be good. Julie even bought these to snack on. We remembered...after the fact...
This picture sums up what we felt towards sampling by the end of the night. No more!
Did someone say Fudge?
