- Boxing day, indeed.
This was Kristen’s biggest holiday baking schedule to date. This year’s packages consisted of her delightful peppermint-mocha biscotti, caramel corn, red velvet cookies, and newly developed peanut butter pretzel fudge. For an entire week leading up to Christmas there were new treats to test my ninja skills on in attempts to steal a taste. Needless to say, I am not as cunning as I’d like to think and very few bites were stolen. In reality, the only tastes I received were given to me out of pity.
Sadly, the holidays put a lag on our cooking and writing. Well, Kristen did plenty of cooking. The truth is that the blame falls on me. The overabundance of good food and drink kept my hands away from the keyboard and I did more eating than writing. I mean, my hands were full. Despite my laziness, we’re excited to kick off the 2013 with some of the F dash dash dash dash word.
FUDGE!
The holidays are about classics. We watch the same holiday movies and listen to the same holiday tunes. Our house, for example, is filled with the swoons of Bing Crosby and glee of Vince Guaraldi. There’s comfort in the repetition. At home in Alabama, winter is just another part of the food cycle. It’s when we my uncle fries a turkey, my mom slays us with her green bean casserole, and I dream about digging my hands into some Boston Butt. I depend on these year after year.
New to my list is the unforgettable holiday classic: fudge. This variety combines two of my favorite classics: chocolate and peanut butter. Since I have recently raved over her biscotti and already mentioned the miracle of her salty-sweet concoctions, I won’t belabor their glory in this post (See Mantown, USA). The nice thing about fudge is that you can set it and forget it. But, once it was out of the mixer, there was no forgetting it. It kept calling to me from the fridge and the left over pretzel pieces couldn't quell the craving invoked by the smell of peanut butter. Luckily, Kristen had to square off the batch and I got to feast on the trimmings. Oddly, they looked like bacon and were as equally delectable.
- What part of the pig does this come from?
The end product was perfect layers of chocolate and peanut putter fudge.
- The knife is there as a deterrent.
We’re excited for the New Year and I can’t wait to see what I will get to eat in 2013! Check out our menu at shecookshewrites.blogspot.com and send any catering requests to Kristen at sweetnessdessertboutique@gmail.com
Ingredients & Directions (from Sprinklebakes.com):
This recipe makes about 4 pounds of fudge, so make it for holiday gatherings or for people on your bake-and-give Christmas list. They'll thank you for it! These can be enjoyed at room temperature for up to a week when stored in an air-tight container. With refrigeration they will keep slightly longer.
Yield: 4 lbs of fudge
Crust:
1 cup finely ground pretzels
3 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (or a level 1/2 cup semisweet chips)
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp sugar
1 egg, beaten
- Line a 9x9-inch baking dish with parchment paper, allowing the paper to overhang on all sides.
- Heat a saucepan filled 1/3 full with water and bring to a simmer. Put chocolate and butter in a medium heat-proof bowl and place on top of the pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter melts. Add the sugar and egg. Cook mixture until it is very hot and has thickened slightly.
- Remove from simmering pot and stir in pretzel crumbs. You will use the pan of simmering water again for the ganache, so be sure to keep it handy. Press the mixture into the prepared pan with buttered hands. Set aside while you prepare the fudge.
Maple-peanut butter fudge:
2 14 oz. cans of sweetened condensed milk
2 10 oz. bags of peanut butter chips (such as Reese's)
1 1/2 tsp. pure maple extract
- Combine the condensed milk and peanut butter chips in a large microwaveable bowl. Heat at 100% power until melted and smooth, 3-5 minutes. Stir in maple extract. Pour mixture over crust and refrigerate for 15 minutes. While you wait for the fudge to chill, make the topping.
Chocolate ganache/ pretzel topping:
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tbsp heavy cream
25 thick cut pretzels
- Combine chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl and set over the simmering water. Stir until melted, smooth and shiny about 3 minutes. Using and offset spatula spread over the fudge and top with 14-15 whole pretzels.
Crush the remaining pretzels and sprinkle over the ganache. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours or overnight. Cut into squares. Enjoy!
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