Easy Homemade Fudge

I love fudge at Christmas. Maybe that's the reason why I'm no longer a size 2? Hmm... probably. For years, my Grandma made fudge. She always added the marshmallow fluff, and used the recipe on the back of the fluff jar. It always tasted great.

My Grandma has since passed away. This will be our 4th Christmas without her, and I still miss her just as much now as I did then. I still have dreams of her, though, and I feel this is her way of still being with me.

This year, my mother and I got together and did candied items for Christmas. We spent around 6 hours baking and cooking, dipping, dropping, hardening, and breaking things apart. One of the items we made was fudge. My mom's recipe was a lot different (and easier) than the one my Grandma always made.

Festive Fudge (I added the festive part, to make it sound all holiday-ish)

You'll need:
A pot
A wooden spoon
A Jelly Roll pan or cake pan (a jelly roll is a cookie sheet with edges, in case you were wondering!)
Wax paper (to line the pan with, so the fudge won't stick to the bottom)
1 regular size package of baking chips- chocolate, peanut butter, etc.
1 14 ounce can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

Dump the chips & milk into a pot, and start warming it. Stir every few minutes until it starts to become liquid. Once it starts to liquify, stir constantly, so as not to scorch the chocolate. When it's completely melted, pour into a wax paper covered pan, and let cool.

We usually stick the fudge in the garage, since it's cold here this time of year.

You can double the recipe. In fact, one of our favorites is to use 1 bag of chocolate chips, and 1 bag of peanut butter chips, to make a chocolate peanut butter fudge.

Good luck!

Thanksgiving Treats Seems To Be Big

Though my little blog has been around less than a month, I have noticed that I am already receiving hits from people doing web searches. Google in particular has really picked up on my posts. The topics vary, but the biggest hit seems to be people wanting to find new Thanksgiving Treats.

Now that Halloween is done, Thanksgiving is the next holiday looming ahead for most people. I've noticed that in often, Thanksgiving is over looked as a plan-ahead holiday, in lieu of people frantically trying to figure out what they are going to do for Christmas. Seeing how many hits I am getting from people looking up Thanksgiving, it makes me smile.

So, in honor of the many wonderful web hits I've gotten from people wanting to find new treats, here area few additions to my growing list of Thanksgiving Treats.

Hot Chocolate-Marshmallow Pudding

What You'll Need:
1 4oz package of pudding mix- any chocolate flavor (white chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, etc)
1 cup mini marshmallows
2/3 cup whipped cream topping.

Prepare the pudding according to the directions, and stir in the marshmallows.
Scoop the mix evenly into single serving size microwaveable dishes.
Microwave on high for 35 secs, or until the marshmallows begin to melt & the pudding is heated through. Stir, and top with a scoop of whipped cream.

5 Minute Triple Layer Cookie Cream Pie

What You'll Need:
Milk
2 4-serving size packages of pudding mix (The recipe calls for Chocolate, but you can mix & match with great results!)
1 tub of whipped cream, thawed, divided
1 pie crust- either graham cracker or Oreo cookie, depending on the flavor you go for.
10-12 sandwich cookies

This pie is super easy, and goes over VERY well.
Mix 1 box of pudding according to directions, and add the 2nd mix in. Do not add extra milk!
Set aside 3 cookies, then break and crumble the rest.
In a bowl, mix half the pudding mix with half of the whipped cream, and the cookie crumbles.
In the pie crust, smooth the plain pudding across the bottom. Top with the cookie, pudding, whipped cream mix.
Top the pie with plain whipped cream. Break the remaining 3 cookies into halves, and insert into the top of the pie. Keep cold until you serve.

Notes:

First off, do not use canned whipped cream- it melts!

When I was first given this recipe, it was called the Oreo Cream Pie. I used chocolate pudding, an oreo crust, and oreo cookies. Over time, I came to realize that the flavors could change easily, by using different types of sandwich cookies, puddings, and crusts. Here are some ideas:

Oreo Double Chocolate: Oreo Cookies, Oreo Crust, Chocolate Pudding & Chocolate Whipped Cream
Strawberry Vanilla: Vanilla cookies, Graham crust, vanilla pudding & Strawberry whipped cream
Oreo 2: Oreo cookies, Oreo crust, 1 box vanilla or Oreo pudding, 1 box Chocolate pudding- for this one, prepare the puddings apart using half the required milk in each package. mix the cookies in with the Vanilla or Oreo pudding OR the chocolate pudding, and layer it.
Butterscotch Vanilla: Use butterscotch pudding, with vanilla cookies & a graham crust.

I'd love to hear more ideas! This pie takes about 5 minutes to make, and there is almost always a little left over mix to dip cookies into. I remember one Christmas eve where the kids and I sat around dipping oreos and watching Christmas specials.

Both recipes are easy for kids to help make, and tasty, kid approved flavors. The pie is a fantastic addition to any holiday meal, and can be done easily, quickly, and best of all, frugally.

Easy "Gourmet" Cupcakes

Recently, I saw a photo in a magazine ad for canned pie filling. It was a cupcake, cut in half, with cherry pie filling sort of oozing out of it.

I thought it looked easy enough, and went to the pie filling website to find a recipe- only to find none! I was kind of surprised by that, since they used it as an advertising ploy.

After looking around online, I came to the conclusion that they are as easy as "pie" to make. Since then, I've made numerous batches, and always get complimented on my "Gourmet" cupcakes, and asked for more! The basic recipe is simple.

Gourmet Filled Cupcakes

What You'll Need:
Cupcake Pan
Cupcake Liners
1 Box of prepared Cake mix, unbaked
1 can of pie filling
1 can of frosting

• Simply prepare the cake batter according to the directions. Fill the liners about 1/3rd of the way, enough to cover the bottom with a decent layer of batter.
• Next, scoop some pie filling into the center of each cupcake, taking care not to get it too close to the edges. Last, cover the pie filling with more cake batter.
• Bake according to the directions on the cake mix. Once they've cooled, frost, and serve!

You will want to kind of match the various pie fillings with the cake & frosting flavors. Here are some I have tried, which went over well.

• Blueberry Pie Filling with Vanilla Cake & Vanilla Frosting
• Cherry Pie Filling with German Chocolate Cake & Vanilla Frosting
• Cherry & Blueberry Pie Filling (left over from the previous 2 batches!) with White Cake & Vanilla Frosting
• Strawberry Pie Filling with Yellow Cake & Strawberry Frosting
• Raspberry Pie Filling with White Cake & Vanilla Frosting
• Apple Pie Filling with Spice Cake & Cream Cheese Frosting
• Apple Pie Filling, drizzled with Caramel Ice Cream Sauce, with Spice Cake & spread with Caramel Topping instead of Frosting.

The various combinations are endless! I imagine in the summer, a Strawberry Lemon mix would taste great together!

These make about 26-30 cupcakes, depending on how filling the fruit is. They make for a fantastic addition to a party, reunion, or just as a special treat. My husband took quite a few in to work, and my neighbor is constantly asking for more!