White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

I was excited when this month's Crazy Cooking Challenge was for Fudge!!! We haven't made fudge in a while and I really wanted to find a good recipe for White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge and I found a great one by Mindika's Moments.  I liked this one because it had an unexpected ingredient - cream cheese!  I haven't ever used cream cheese in any fudge recipe before so I was so curious how it would turn out.  Well this is a fantastic recipe.  It's very easy to put together and it's really delicious.  We tweaked the recipe a little bit to suit the ingredients we had on hand, mostly we changed the quantities of ingredients but kept the recipe as similar as possible. 

Ingredients:

1 cup  cream cheese

3 cups powdered sugar

2 cups white chocolate chips

1 1/4 teaspoons peppermint extract

1 cup candy canes, crushed

Preparation:

Line an 8x8 square pan with wax paper and set aside.  With a hand mixer beat together cream cheese and powdered sugar (1 cup at a time) and peppermint extract until smooth.   Melt white chocolate chips in a double boiler or microwave in 30 second increments until melted and smooth.  Add white chocolate to cream cheese mixture, combine with a wooden spoon.  Next add in crushed candy canes, reserving about 2 tablespoons to sprinkle on top).  Stir candy canes into fudge mixture until combined well.  Pour fudge into prepared square pan and smooth with a knife.  Sprinkle the reserved crushed candy canes on top.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and then slice and serve!!

Peanut Butter Fudge

Ingredients:

8 ounces unsalted butter, plus more for greasing pan

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pound powdered sugar

1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips *optional (for decorating) 

Preparation:

Combine the butter and peanut butter in a 4-quart microwave-safe bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave for 2 minutes on high. Stir and microwave on high for 2 more minutes. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar to the peanut butter mixture and stir to combine with a wooden spoon. The mixture will become hard to stir and lose its sheen. Spread into a buttered 8 by 8-inch pan lined with parchment paper.  (* Optional *Melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments until smooth.  Drop by teasponfuls on top of the spread out fudge.  Take a knive and dip the tip of the knife into the melted chocolate on top of the fudge and pull through in zig zag fashion to make a marble effect across the top of the fudge.)  Fold the excess parchment paper so it covers the surface of the fudge and refrigerate until cool, about 2 hours. Cut into 1-inch pieces and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.


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Pretzel Fudge

Here's another fudge recipe that Ellen and I made for our birthday brunch. Crunchy, salty pretzels with sweet and creamy fudge is a great combo and it looks pretty too!!

Ingredients:

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups broken pretzel pieces

Preparation:

Lightly grease a 9-inch square pan; line with a piece of plastic wrap, parchment paper, or aluminum foil about 18 to 24 inches in length, leaving the ends out to cover the finished fudge. (The ends will also serve as "handles" which will help you lift the fudge out of the pan).

Heat the condensed milk, chocolate chips, butter, and vanilla in the microwave 30 seconds at a time. Stir until the chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. This should only take 1-2 minutes. Stir in pretzels. Pour into the prepared pan. Spread gently then cover lightly with the ends of the plastic wrap. Top with more pretzel pieces. Chill until firm. Lift out of the pan and cut into small squares.

Rocky Road Fudge

For a recent brunch, Ellen and I decided to make an assortment of fudge to serve for dessert. We had a lot of fun creating different flavor combinations. I love the way rocky road fudge tastes and looks. Serving this one was a no brainier. We ran out of parchment paper and decided to go ahead with the fudge anyway. I DON'T recommended doing this. It took us forever to wedge that fudge out of the pan. LOL


Ingredients:

3 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed (not evaporated) milk
2 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 C. marshmallow creme
1 C. chopped hazelnuts (reserve 1/4 cup for top)

Lightly grease a 9 x 9 inch loaf pan. Line with waxed paper or parchment paper, then lightly grease paper. Put chips, sweetened condensed milk and butter into a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until just melted melted.

Stir in vanilla, and 3/4 cup of the nuts. Spread evenly in prepared pan. Pour six "blobs" of marshmallow creme on top of fudge and swirl into fudge with a knife. Sprinkle remaining nuts on top. Chill about 4 hours or until firm enough to cut. Lift waxed paper by ends onto cutting board. Cut fudge into 1 inch squares. Store in an air tight container and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

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