Peanut Butter Fudge

Every now and again, I go through my posts and add them to a file so I can easily find what recipes I have posted so I don't repeat them (unless they have undergone dramatic changes). I discovered I forgot to share the Peanut Butter Fudge recipe. I made it the same day I made the chocolate fudge. I think this recipe is the family favorite. The chocolate was good but they have been devouring the peanut butter. We are peanut butter sort of people so it makes since (their favorite cookie is my gluten free peanut butter cookies).
I made it with homemade evaporated milk.
Just a note about next week - I will not be posting next week but I will be experimenting and will have lots to share after the holidays.

Peanut Butter Fudge
¾ cup evaporated milk
2 cups sugar
2 TB butter
1 1/8 cups peanut butter
1 7oz marshmallow cream
1 teas vanilla
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine milk, sugar and butter. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly and let boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, marshmallow cream and vanilla until well incorporated. Spread into greased 8x8 dish. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

Chocolate Covered Cherries

There's not many recipes I have made this week that I haven't shared at some point on this blog. Here is one I haven't made in a few years because it's time consuming. It's not exactly difficult - just takes time. The result is well worth the effort.

Chocolate covered Cherries
½ cup butter, soft
2 cups marshmallow creme
1 teas almond extract
4 cups powdered sugar
1 jar maraschino cherries, well drained
2 cups chocolate chips
2 TB shortening
Cream butter. Add marshmallow creme, extract and sugar, mix well. Knead into a large ball, chill for 1 hour. Roll into 1 inch balls and flatten into 2 inch circles. Wrap circles around cherries and carefully shape into balls. Place on lined baking sheet, cover loosely. Chill for 4 hours to overnight. Melt chocolate chips with shortening in a double boiler. Dip balls in chocolate, place on lined baking sheet to harden. Refrigerate in covered container 1-2 weeks before serving.

Peanut Brittle

My husband really wanted peanut brittle this year. I was able to get unsalted roasted peanuts (no raw) and thought about how to go about this. I decided to use my toffee recipe. We used Nucoa to make him a dairy free version. Because of this - I believe that the recipe needs stirring. Normally, one does not stir the toffee as it cooks but the nucoa did not exactly meld with the sugar. Stirring would have helped.

Peanut Brittle
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 TBS water
1 1/2 cups peanuts

Bring butter, sugar and water to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes until the color turns amber (290 on a thermometer). Stir in peanuts and pour into a greased cookie sheet. Let cool completely. Break into pieces and enjoy.

Chocolate Fudge

I needed a good easy fudge recipe that didn't have too many ingredients since we had to stay within budget for the month. This recipe comes from Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk. I made my own with the recipe I posted earlier this week. The only problem I encountered is that the powdered milk stayed a little lumpy. I made this a second time and beat the milk more reducing the number of little milk lumps. You can't taste the powdered milk and my husband is convinced they are nuts (I didn't add any nuts and have told him several times). We used milk chocolate chips since the semi-sweet that were on sale were gone. The result was a wonderful and rich candy. I, also, found that cooking it for just a few minutes after the chips were melted resulted in a firmer less sticky fudge but either way is great.

Chocolate Fudge
3 cups chocolate chips
14 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
¾ cup chopped nuts
1 ½ teas vanilla
Melt chocolate chips and milk in a pan over low heat. Add nuts and vanilla. Pour into greased 8x8 inch pan. Chill for 2 hours.

Microwave Caramel

I can't remember where I found this recipe but I couldn't wait to try it. The flavor of this caramel is wonderful but I just couldn't get it to firm up in the microwave. I ended up taking the two batches I attempted and putting them in a pot on the stove until they firmed up. The result was amazing caramels and I had used the homemade sweetened condensed milk.
I do think this would make amazing (but soft) caramel corn. Which would be perfect for a quick evening snack. I didn't add anything to the recipe after I took it out of the microwave.
*make sure your microwave is really clean - this does bubble over and if it lands on a clean surface you can scoop it back into the batch.


7 Minute Microwave Caramels or Caramel Corn
Yield: About 50 individually wrapped caramels, or 15 cups of caramel corn
Make the Caramel:
Note: If making individual caramels, have an 8x8 dish lined with parchment paper at the ready. If making caramel corn, prepare 12-15 cups of popped kettle corn and place in a large bowl. (1 1/2 standard size bags of microwave popcorn popped equals about 12 cups. This is the amount I used.)
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 cup light brown sugar, tightly paked
1/2 cup corn syrup
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk (not low fat)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
In a large microwaveable bowl or 8 cup glass measure, combine the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Microwave at 100% power for 2 minutes. Stir mixture well. It will be a little grainy. Microwave for another 2 minutes and stir well. Add 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk. Microwave for 3 minutes. Watch carefully, it is prone to bubble up at this stage. Remove from microwave and stir in vanilla extract. Be very careful at this stage, the caramel is extremely hot and sticky!

For Individual Caramels:
Sea salt for sprinkling
Pour hot caramel into the parchment lined pan. Lightly sprinkle with sea salt. Let stand until set, but still slightly warm. Lift caramel block from pan and cut into individual squares. Wrap in wax paper squares.*Note: My caramels held their shape quite well without being wrapped.

For Caramel Corn:
1 cup peanuts or cashews
Sea salt for sprinkling
Pour nuts over popped kettle corn. Pour hot caramel over popcorn, turning popcorn over with a large wooden spoon to coat. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside. Microwave caramel coated corn for 4 minutes, stopping after each minute to stir. Pour onto prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with sea salt. Let stand at room temperature until hardened. Break into pieces and store in an air-tight container.

Sweetened Condensed Milk

I found this recipe in a Joanne Fluke book. I like the simplicity of this recipe and the fact that I have everything in my cupboard. This year's holiday baking seems to need lots of sweetened condensed milk so I am playing with this as I go. Tonight I am making fudge and last weekend I made caramels. So far so good.

Joanne Fluke Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/3 cup boiling water
4 TB butter
¾ cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered milk
Whisk water and butter until the butter is melted. Add sugar and mix until dissolved. Add vanilla. Whisk in powdered milk until smooth and creamy. Equals 14 oz can of SC milk.

Licorice Cookie Strips

Before you discount this cookie because it has licorice in the title, note that the licorice flavor comes from aniseed that dots the cookie. It's really a sort of butter/sugar cookie. This is a staple in our house when the holidays come. My family loves it (and they hate all things licorice). The cookie really needs a new name but this is what it came with. The dough doesn't look like much but it makes about 10 dozen cookies. They are light crispy cookies so when eating them it will not feel like dozens of cookies. My guys were hanging around just to get cookie scraps since I was making this for a cookie party. This is an easy cookie to make but the dough will be really soft. It firms up some if you let it sit (the last ones cooked will be rather easy to work with compared to the first). I use a rubber spatula sprayed with cooking spray to press these cookies down instead of a fork. They do spread so no more than 3 logs on a cookie sheet. With mine spaced about 2 inches apart they did touch when done cooking but I just used the cutter to seperate. Cut the cookies while they are still warm - I use a hard plastic cake froster to cut them. Also, I don't think I have ever added nuts to this cookie and was actually surprised to see them listed in the ingredients last night. It's up to you. If you do - chop them really fine because these cookies come out thin.

Licorice Cookie Strips
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2-½ cups flour
2 teaspoons aniseed
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ cup chopped nuts
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg. Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in nuts. Divide dough into 10 portions; shape each into a 12 inch log. Place 3 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten with a fork to 1/4 inch thickness. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes; cut diagonally into 1 inch slices. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.