Peanut Butter and Chocolate Fudge
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When I think of fudge, memories of summers up north in Michigan immediately come to mind. Every year, my family and our friends would rent a place in Harbor Springs where we would play whiffle ball, relax, eat, and inevitably, find our way to Mackinac Island.
And Mackinac Island meant one thing–fudge. Even though we left Michigan in 1985, I still have very vivid memories of the multiple fudge shops, with their marble slabs and long spatula/scraper tools. And every time I go back to Detroit for a visit, I hunt down Mackinac fudge to put in my suitcase and bring back to LA. It’s just that good.
(Photos of the process here.)
Until yesterday, I had never made fudge before. I suppose because really, I know nothing will ever come close to Mackinac fudge. But as I was browsing food blogs, a photo caught my eye and I knew I had to give this recipe a go. What could possibly be bad about chocolate and peanut butter?
In this case, absolutely nothing! The fudge is good. Not Mackinac good, but good. The recipe was easy, and the only problem I ran into was the chocolate and peanut butter layers separating, making it difficult to cut. But this also gave us the chance to taste the flavors individually, and I have to say, I think the peanut butter part is my favorite.
Ingredients
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup margarine
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
6 oz package semi sweet chocolate pieces
7 oz. jar Marshmallow Creme
1/2 cup peanut butter
Preparation
- Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar, 6 tablespoons margarine and 1/3 cup evaporated milk in a medium pot.
- Bring to full rolling boil, stirring constantly.
- Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling for 4 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.
- Remove from heat and stir in chocolate pieces until melted.
- Add 1 cup (1/2 jar) marshmallow creme and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until well blended.
- Pour into greased 13 X 9 pan.
- Repeat with remaining ingredients substituting peanut butter and spread over chocolate.
- Cool at room temperature and cut into squares.
Recipe from Bakerella.
Chocolate Caramel Brownies
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It’s rainy and cold here, and I wanted to bake but didn’t want to make anything complicated. I sorted through my messy recipe folder and decided today was the perfect day for a somewhat “cheat” recipe. Yes, it calls for a box mix. I know, for shame! Reading through the recipe, it appeared very simple so I decided to give it a go.
Well, apparently I wasn’t paying enough attention and somewhat messed up the caramel. When the recipe said to add the “remaining evaporated milk” to the caramel, I added the rest of the can, not the rest of the 1 cup it called for. Whoops. Fortunately, I realized this as the caramels were (not) melting, so I dumped out a large portion of the milk and continued with the melting. I think there was still too much in there, because the caramel was a little runny, but it definitely tastes good!
Ingredients
1 pkg. (18.25 oz.) chocolate cake mix
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk, divided
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
35 (10-oz. pkg.) caramels, unwrapped
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Combine cake mix and nuts in large bowl. Stir in 2/3 cup evaporated milk and butter (batter will be thick). Spread half of batter into ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Heat caramels and remaining evaporated milk in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until caramels are melted. Sprinkle morsels over brownie; drizzle with caramel mixture.
Drop remaining batter by heaping teaspoon over caramel mixture.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into 24 squares.
My notes:
- Unwrapping the damn caramels takes about as much time as making the brownies. Seriously.
- Your caramel will probably look different, unless you mess up like I did.
Recipe from VeryBestBaking.com.
2007 In Pictures
Looking forward to trying lots of new recipes in 2008, Happy New Year!
Contest Time
I’m in the process of redesigning this blog (see below and click to enlarge) and am having a contest (read: win baked goods)! I’m looking to replace the header image (the coffee cup) with something that better reflects Nosh With Me. I’m going to change the fonts a bit, but I’d like to keep the color scheme, at least for now.
Requirements
- GIF image size: 789 x 125 pixels
- Must include the words: Nosh With Me and One girl’s love affair with her KitchenAid mixer.
Also, feel free to use photos on my Flickr account.
Prize
One dozen cookies (or cupcakes if you’re local) of your choice.
Deadline
Tentatively January 31, 2008.
Submission
Email me at hilary (at) noshwithme (dot) com for more information or to submit your design.
Can’t wait to see them!
Snickerdoodles (Mrs. Sigg’s)
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I don’t know who Mrs. Sigg is, but she sure has a good snickerdoodle recipe. Slightly crunchy on the outside and nice and chewy on the inside, these are the perfect kind of cookie! This recipe is pretty damn similar to the other snickerdoodle recipe I tried, but this one calls for cream of tartar (which I apparently mistakenly thought would make them puff up more. They didn’t.)
These were so easy to make that as soon as I put the first cookie sheet in the oven, I wished I had doubled the recipe. I know my coworkers and my eyebrow girl are going to inhale these tomorrow! And my family will get to enjoy them on Friday (yep, I’m bringing them down to San Diego).
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt.
- Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
- Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.
Recipe from Allrecipes.
