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!

Easy Peppermint Bark

A few years ago, I learned how to make Peppermint Bark, and I've been making the treat every year since! It takes all of 2 minutes to make, and a little goes a long ways.

Peppermint Bark


You'll Need:
1 bag White Chocolate Chips
Peppermint Extract
3-4 Peppermint Candy Canes, Crushed (I unwrap them, and put them through the food processor)
Red Sugar Sprinkles- optional

1. Melt the chocolate in a glass dish in the microwave. Start out at 1 minute & 30 seconds on 75% power, or 70% if your microwave does increments of 10. When the time is up, stir the chocolate, then return to the microwave.
   
   Microwave for 30 seconds, and stir. The bag should be almost completely melted after the total time of 2 minutes. If not, return to the microwave for 30 seconds more. After the initial 1 minute & 30 seconds, do NOT microwave for more than 30 seconds at a time. Chocolate WILL scorch, and be ruined!
2. Add 1 capful of peppermint extract and stir. 
3. Add 3/4's of the crushed candy canes and stir.
4. Spread the chocolate out on a cookie sheet. I recommend laying down wax paper first, but it isn't needed. Use a rubber spatula to spread the mixture out over the cookie sheet in a thin layer. It does not have to be uniform, or cover the whole thing.
   
5. Sprinkle the remaining crushed candy canes on top of the chocolate, then add some red sugar sprinkles on top!
6. Let the mixture cool in the fridge. Once it's hardened, start breaking it apart. This is where the wax paper comes in handy, because you can lift it from the pan to break it apart. 

Make sure to store the bark in it's own container, as the peppermint will leave a residual flavor on other treats in the container with it!

This makes for an easy, quick add in to the traditional cookie plates set out. It is a rich recipe with all that chocolate, though, so a little goes a long ways! Break it up into quarter size bites!