Tag Archive: Fudge

Easy Reese’s Fudge

Easy Reese's Fudge Serving

On a trip to New York a couple weeks ago, I had an hour to kill in Times Square. It’s probably no surprise I made a beeline for the M&M store and then quickly followed over to the Hershey’s store. Anywhere that sells that much chocolate should be a tourist destination in itself.

I still had chocolate on the brain after getting home from that trip and had to make this fudge. Surprisingly I hadn’t made microwave fudge in about a year so this was long overdue. Adding a little bit of Reese’s peanut butter cups was the perfect touch to these; if anything deserves a pairing with chocolate it’s peanut butter.

Easy Reese's Fudge Candies

I used dark chocolate chips which made the fudge a little less sweet but gave a good contrast to the peanut butter cups. Instead of the fun-sized Reese’s cups you could use full-sized ones cut into more pieces or the new unwrapped miniatures.

Easy Reese’s Fudge

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 20 servings):

  • 1 10oz bag chocolate chips
  • 1 4oz stick unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 10 fun-sized Reese’s, chopped into fourths

Easy Reese's Fudge Yield

Method:

  1. Melt together the chocolate chips and butter in a bowl.
  2. In a separate bowl, mix together the milk and powdered sugar until the sugar dissolves.
  3. Mix the milk in with the melted chocolate and butter and beat until smooth.
  4. Pour the hot fudge into a greased 8-inch loaf pan. You can add wax paper as a liner to make the removal and clean up easier.
  5. Sprinkle the chopped up Reese’s on top of the fudge and press it in gently with your hand.
  6. Refrigerate the fudge until it hardens, about 2 hours.
  7. With a sharp knife, slice the fudge into 1-inch squares. Keep it in the refrigerator when not enjoying.

Easy Reese's Fudge2

Almond Butter Fudge + Giveaway

Almond Butter Fudge Yield

It’s no surprise that I’m a fan of almonds in all form on this blog, whether its almond butter, almond flour or just almonds. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around where the milk comes from though.

The Almond Board of California alerted me that tomorrow, February 16th, is National Almond Day and what better way to celebrate than with a recipe and a giveaway?

I came across this crazy delicious recipe for coconut fudge on the Whole Foods recipe blog and had to try it out with almonds. I knew if the finished result tasted anything like chocolate covered almonds it would be right up my alley.

Almond Butter Fudge Almond Butter

Salt and almonds are the perfect way to dress up a simple fudge recipe. You could add a little sugar into the melted chocolate but the simple flavor and crunch of the almonds shine through without anything added.

Almond Butter Fudge

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 20 servings):

  • 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips
  • 3 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 Tablespoons natural almond butter
  • 3 Tablespoons water
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/4 cup shaved almonds

Almond Butter Fudge

Method:

  1. In a medium-sized bowl, melt together the chocolate chips and butter until they are runny and smooth.
  2. In a separate bowl, beat the almond butter, water, vanilla extract and salt together until evenly mixed.
  3. Stir the wet mixture into the melted chocolate and mix until smooth.
  4. Grease the bottom and sides of an 8-inch loaf pan or other small Tupperware.
  5. Pour the fudge into the load pan and lightly shake until it has set in an even layer.
  6. Sprinkle the sliced almonds over the top of the fudge and press them in gently.
  7. Refrigerate for 30 minutes until the fudge has set before cutting into 1-inch squares.

Almond Day Giveaway

Now for the exciting part. The Almond Board of California is giving away an almond prize pack to one random US reader. You’ll get the same package I received including almond butter, almonds, slivered almonds, almond flour, and flavored almonds. To enter, leave a comment for each entry below.

The giveaway is open until Wednesday, February 20th. Good luck!

A First Attempt At Fudge

Martha Stewart's Penuche Fudge

Fudge is one of my favorite desserts. I’ve made chocolate fudge plenty of times and even a few batches of peanut butter; I try to convince myself that the easy, no-fuss microwave method of making it is just as good as any other.

That’s just not true.

Occasionally I go to a small beach town in Maine and the coast is lined with candy shops. Beyond the salt water taffy and chocolate covered gummy bears, they no doubt have homemade fudge there. And you can bet it’s not the kind that’s made in the microwave. My favorite to get is the penuche because the flavor is so pure and simple and yet complex in its own right.

Martha Stewart's Penuche Fudge 2

I got a candy thermometer for Christmas last year thinking that would get me to try all the recipes I’ve bookmarked but never had the chance to make. Well, it took me a good 7 months to finally use it; better late than never I guess.

I searched and searched for a promising penuche fudge recipe and landed on Martha Stewart’s. It got off to a bad start when I realized it called for a 5oz can of evaporated milk and not the 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk I had. Oops. To compensate I made a last minute switch and used the condensed milk with 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar and 4oz of butter.

Martha Stewart's Penuche Fudge 3

I’m pretty sure my stove runs hot because as soon as I put it on it started boiling and the temperature went up and up and up. I took the pan off the heat and kept stirring and tried to get it to heat up slowly, but by then it looked like it had burned a little.

I stirred for about 10-15 minutes and then combined it with the powdered sugar and vanilla. I was more than anxious to see if it would be too hard or too soft or too oily or too dry. I held my breath and put the loaf pan in my refrigerator to cool.

Martha Stewart's Penuche Fudge Yield

Impatiently, I took the pan out before it’d cooled all the way. Instead of a brick of taffy, I was surprised to find fudge, real fudge. The kind with layers and crackling sugar and a sweet smell to it.

I bit in. The flavor wasn’t quite penuche; it’s a little more complicated and something I can’t put my finger on. Brown butter fudge? Salted caramel fudge? I don’t know. It’s good, though. And with a little time and a lot of practice I’d make it again.

Here’s a link to the recipe again. If you’re daring(or just good with candy thermometers), I’d recommend giving it a go. And if you’re intimidated by any other cooking technique, I’d recommend giving it a go, too. What’s the worst that could happen?…

Just keep a fire extinguisher nearby.

Almond Joy Fudge

Akmond-Joy-Fudge

There are few things better than fudge or candy, except maybe fudge that tastes like candy.

Coconut tends to be one of those touchy flavors; people either love it or hate it. Alone I think it’s pretty good—nothing special. Combine it with chocolate and sugar, though, and you’ve got a clear winner. This fudge has a standard chocolate base but with a layer of coconut-white chocolate fudge on top, topped with an almond. If you omit the almonds it’ll taste just like a Mounds bar.

The best part about this dessert? It can all be made in the microwave so you can enjoy it any time. OK, maybe that’s not such great news…

Almond Joy Fudge

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 16 servings):

  • 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons semi-sweet or bitter-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
  • 16 almonds

Almond-Joy-Fudge-2

Method:

  1. Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave or over the stove.
  2. Mix into the melted chocolate 2 Tablespoons of butter, 3 Tablespoons of coconut milk, and 1/4 cup of sifted powdered sugar until the chocolate is smooth.
  3. Pour the fudge into the bottom of a non-stick 6×6 pan. Put the pan in a refrigerator temporarily to cool the chocolate.
  4. Melt the white chocolate using the same method, keeping an eye on it making sure that it doesn’t burn.
  5. Mix in the remaining butter, coconut milk, powdered sugar, and coconut until smooth.
  6. Take the pan out of the refrigerator and spread the coconut layer on evenly(It won’t be runny but shouldn’t be too solid to spread either).
  7. Place each almond about an inch apart in a 4×4 square pattern.
  8. Refrigerate the fudge for 20-30 minutes until it’s solid. Cut into 16 squares with an almond at the center of every square and serve cold.

Almond-Joy-Fudge-Hand

By itself the top layer tastes too much of white chocolate(I wasn’t aware that was even possible) to be like the coconut center of a Mounds Bar. But eaten together the chocolate and coconut fudge taste eerily similar to the candy joy. You might want to use an even larger pan such as 8×8 for flat rectangular pieces of fudge.

homemade-mounds-bars

And as long as we’re on the topic of coconut and chocolate, recently I updated the recipe page for Homemade Mounds Bars with better pictures and easier to read steps. It’s one of the most pinned dessert recipes I have so I can’t be the only one who thinks they’re amazing.

Double Take: Microwave Fudge

microwave-fudge

Happy President’s Day weekend to all my American readers. I’m going to admit that until 2 days ago I had no clue it was President’s Day today; in fact, I wished one of my friends a happy Martin Luther King day until I looked that up and realized I’m a month behind. Oops.

I haven’t really been in the holiday mindset since I have 5 hours of class today. Still, I don’t need an excuse to spend all weekend making desserts so that’s what I did.

microwave-fudge-stack

I can’t count the number of times I’ve posted this fudge recipe, so we’re just going to call this a “double take”. It’s one of my favorite desserts to make because it’s easy and delicious; you probably already have all the ingredients.

I’ve had readers make this without the added sugar or substituting coconut oil for the butter and I hear it works great. I haven’t tried either of those substitutions, but I have made it with coconut milk and Earth Balance margarine and it comes out terrific that way, too.

Microwave Fudge

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 16 servings):

  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 4oz stick butter
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup milk(or non-dairy substitute)

microwave-fudge-2

Method:

  1. Melt together the chocolate chips and butter.
  2. Sift in the powdered sugar and pour in the milk. Mix until completely uniform.
  3. Pour the hot fudge into a 6 x 6 pan. Refrigerate until the fudge sets.
  4. Cut into 1 1/2 inch squares(this might be easier to do if the fudge has softened a bit) and serve slightly chilled.

microwave-fudge-cubes

I hope you don’t wait for the next holiday to try this one out.

New Years Eve Chocolate Cake

new-years-eve-chocolate-cake

This recipe comes almost 4 months in the making. I needed a lot of time and a big celebration to make it for so New Years fit the bill. It’s also my submission for the Scharffen Berger elevated classic recipe contest.

new-years-eve-chocolate-cake-layers

The point of the contest is to take a classic dessert and elevate it with chocolate. My favorite chocolate dessert has always been flourless chocolate cake, which has been made in my family for years with the same recipe. It’s certainly a good recipe, but not the best.

new-years-eve-chocolate-cake-scharffen-berfer-chocolate

To elevate it, I added a raspberry fudge sauce and topped the whole thing with a coconut milk mousse, all made with Scharffen Berger chocolate. I love the combination of the dense cake with the airy mousse and the tartness of the raspberries between the two sweet layers. Technically it was probably one of the hardest desserts I’ve made; I’ve never successfully separated and tempered yolks before now. Needless to say I was very happy on New Years Eve when the cake turned out as well as I planned.

new-years-eve-chocolate-cake-vertical

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Fudge Sauce and Coconut Milk Chocolate Mousse

For the cake:

For the sauce:

For the mousse:

*To get coconut cream, leave a can of coconut milk undisturbed for a week or so. When you open it, the water should have separated from the thicker part, the cream. Just be careful not to mix the two together and you should be able to scrape the cream off the top easily.

new-years-eve-chocolate-cake-slicing

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Beat together the butter and sugar, adding in eggs one at a time until all of them are incorporated. The batter should be smooth and ribbony.
  3. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or microwave.
  4. Slowly temper the melted chocolate into the batter until it’s completely mixed in.
  5. Grease a 9-inch cake pan and pour the batter in.
  6. Bake for 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
  7. Remove the cake and let it sit undisturbed until it cools to room temperature. It should deflate as it cools. Don’t worry if the top cracks since it will get covered eventually.
  8. While the cake cools, make the sauce by bringing all of the ingredients together to a boil in a small sauce pot.
  9. Mix the contents of the pot until the chocolate has melted and the sauce is uniform in color.
  10. Pour the sauce over the cake. Let it cool completely and then refrigerate to chill.
  11. While the sauce sets, make the mousse by bringing to a light boil the coconut cream and water in a sauce pot. Chop the chocolate and add it in, mixing off of the heat until the chocolate has melted.
  12. Beat together the 3 egg yolks. Temper them by adding a little of the chocolate coconut mixture in as you beat. Once the yolks have been tempered you can mix them into the pot along with the salt. Keep the pot off of the heat stirring occasionally to prevent fit rom getting a film.
  13. Beat the egg whites while sifting in the powdered sugar until light peaks form like you’re making a meringue.
  14. Carefully fold the egg whites and chocolate coconut mixture together in a large bowl until it’s all mixed. Be careful not to over-mix the mousse and deflate the egg whites; fold just enough until it’s all the same color.
  15. Put the mousse into the refrigerator until it’s set, about 3-4 hours.
  16. Once the mousse has set, carefully scoop it on top of the cake. Spread it out into one layer as if it were a frosting. Using a piece of saran wrap to push down for a flat surface is an easy way to do this.
  17. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Remove from the refrigerator for about 15 minutes before cutting and eating.

new-years-eve-chocolate-cake-raspberry-layer

It was a lot of work but completely worth it. Everybody loved the cake. And I think the mousse would be a great and impressive dessert to make on its own for another occasion.

Microwave Chocolate Fudge

Microwave-Fudge

I’m kind of a scatterbrain when it comes to making desserts; there are only a few recipes I can make without having to look at a recipe. Because of that, I usually end up making those same ones again and again like this fudge. It’s hard to forget 4 ingredients and how to use the microwave. You don’t even need to dirty any dishes. On top of that, it tastes just as good as any other fudge I’ve had. That’s probably why I keep making it again and again.

Micrwave-Fudge-Piece

Microwave Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients(Makes 16 servings):

  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 4oz stick butter(coconut oil and Earth Balance work, too)
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup milk(or non-dairy substitute)

Method:

  1. Melt together the chocolate chips and butter.
  2. Sift in the powdered sugar and pour in the milk. Mix until completely uniform.
  3. Pour the hot fudge into a 6 x 6 pan. Refrigerate until set.
  4. Cut into 1 1/2 inch squares and serve slightly chilled.

Microwave-Fudge-Close-Up

Alton Brown’s Microwave Peanut Butter Fudge

May 15th 095

This recipe is a life-changer.

I’ve long been obsessed with microwave chocolate fudge. I’ve tried making my own peanut butter fudge in the microwave in the past but the texture was never as good as the chocolate version. Finally, when I saw that Alton Brown had a recipe for microwave peanut butter fudge I knew I had to make it.

Alton Brown has to be my favorite Food Network chef, and not just for this recipe. Don’t get me wrong—I love watching Ina and Paula and Giada so that I can make fun of how ridiculous and fattening their “basic” recipes are. But Alton actually writes recipes like he knows what he’s doing, and that’s what makes him fun to cook from. 

May 15th 037

Overall I stuck to the recipe pretty well. I halved the recipe and the only change that I made was melting the butter only and stirring in the peanut butter until it melted, too.

May 15th 041

The fudge came out as an odd, doughy texture that was delicious but not really “fudgy.” I pressed it into a pan and let it sit in the refrigerator until it hardened up a bit and it came to the right consistency.

May 15th 088

I wouldn’t leave this at room temperature since it got soft pretty fast. But other than that it was perfect; the taste was very rich and very sweet.

In other words, I need someone to take the rest of this off my hands right away

Raspberry Fudge Sauce

March 28th 099 - Copy

After I baked this cake recipe for my birthday, the cake looked good but a little plain so I decided to throw together something for the top. I love the pairing of raspberries with chocolate so I decided to make a raspberry chocolate sauce to go on top. I had no clue how it would turn out but I’m happy to report it was perfect. Heated, the sauce is easy to work with and at room temperature it hardened to a semi-soft, fudge consistency which was easy to cut through. It was great on cake but would be good over ice cream, too.

Raspberry Fudge Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 2/3 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
  • 1/3 cup chocolate chips
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons maple syrup(or any liquid sweetener)
  • 1 Tablespoon butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

March 28th 092

Heat the raspberries over low heat in a sauce pan until they’ve reduced to about half their volume and cooked down to a sauce.

Toss in the chocolate chips, butter, maple syrup, and salt and mix until the butter and chocolate chips have melted. Frost or scoop over ice cream while the sauce is still warm and liquid.

March 28th 102

I should have made extra to eat with a spoon; one year older, still not wise enough.

Sunday Confessional 5

IMG_1333 (640x427)

I spent Saturday in Boston with three awesome bloggers and didn’t take a single picture. Oops. At least they were snap happy. Photo courtesy of Tina.

I think Boston is the best city in the world. Having worked there and gone to school there, I miss it all the time. Maybe it’s the people; maybe it’s the atmosphere; but probably it’s because it’s the only city I can use the public transportation in without getting lost… much.

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As part of my marathon training, I ran/walked 20 miles in 3:30:17 and hated every minute of it. Countless times I thought of throwing in the towel until at mile 15 a crazy homeless woman named Mary told me to “use it or lose it.” So I kept on using it until I was done. Mary also offered me a cigarette; as generous as that was, I don’t think it’s part of my training plan.

At mile 5 I stopped right in the middle of the path, stripped off my running tights, threw back on my shorts and stuffed the tights in my pocket for the rest of the run. Runners. Yeah, we’re different.

February 23rd 058

The night after my long run, I ate my favorite dinner: Carbs with a side of potatoes. Again no picture because I was a bad blogger that day.

I also sat down with the last of the microwave fudge and ate it all from the pan. You’re allowed to do that on days you run 20 miles.

 

Past Sunday Confessionals:

Sunday Confessional 1

Sunday Confessional 2

Sunday Confessional 3

Sunday Confessional 4