the fudge~

image from the internet

It's been a busy week... with holiday baking and decorating.  Doing all the things in preparation for the biggest and best birthday party of the year ~ Christmas!!  

I got the 2 turkeys cooked off for the community Christmas dinner.  Wow... imagine my surprise when I saw the size of them ~ they were 22 pounds each.  Last year the turkeys only weighed around 10-12 lbs. a piece... so I figured I could easily cook two of them off at the same time in my oven this year ~ side by side.  Well... with two 22 pound birds to cook off... they each got their own oven time.   Personally, I thought it was a little on the early side to be cooking them off; but I guess they wanted them back to the church on the 22nd or 23rd this year so as not to interrupt Christmas too much for the volunteers who do the cooking.  The church has big coolers; so they'll be put in those until reheated through on the 25th.  So actually this did work out a lot better.  Less rushing around for everyone involved.

I also made up some more cookies... why.... I don't know. We sure don't need to be eating them!  Although, my skinny son Sam could use to put on some pounds; and so do my grandloves ~ so I guess I'll keep on baking.  Yesterday morning I found a tell tale sign of some snooping going on around here.  There was an empty container sitting on the counter that I had put some homemade fudge in.  hmmm....   It had Slim, Sam and Ashley written all over it.  The empty container wasn't there the night before when I went to bed and the three of them were still up watching a movie.  When I confronted Slim in the morning he denied it... Sam denied it... and Ashley denied it...  I think I'm living in a house full of liars.... but then Sam said that was the best fudge he's every had... and so did Slim... and so did Ash.  hmmm....  they didn't eat the fudge; but it was the best they ever had??  

Seriously, I am picky when it comes to fudge.  I don't like a fudge that is over cooked or grainy in texture.  I've been researching and trying out fudge recipes and I think I have finally come up with "THE FUDGE" recipe that I've been hoping for.

In researching I read an article about fudge and why it can be grainy in texture.  One being overcooked and the other; which really makes sense, is the use of small miniature marshmallows versus using large marshmallows that are quartered or the marshmallow creme.  Miniature marshmallows  have a coating of cornstarch on them so they don't stick together.  Well all that extra cornstarch can be just enough to ruin a batch of fudge.

Here's the recipe that I came up with  ... and love!  This really is a good creamy fudge and it's super easy to make:

THE FUDGE

makes 36 pieces

Ingredients:

2 cups white sugar

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla emulsion

1 cup butter 

25 large marshmallows, quartered

2 cups milk chocolate chips

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened bakers chocolate

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions:

1.  Grease 1 - 9x13 cake pan.  Set aside.

2.  Combine sugar, milk, vanilla and butter in large, heavy saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Boil for 2 minutes.

3.  Remove from heat and add marshmallows, semi-sweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips and unsweetened chocolate.  Stir until all the chocolate and marshmallows are melted and smooth.    Mix well.  Add nuts if wanted.

4.  Pour into prepared pan.  Let fudge  sit at least 24 hours to set up ~ before cutting into squares.  Refrigerate for easier cutting.

 ~~~

Until next time....

So it goes in my neck of the woods.

~mel