Call me Fudge

And by calling me fudge, you will need to address me by Mistress Fudge. That's right. I have conquered that massive amount of stirring that makes fudge melt in your mouth without the sugar crystals. Took a couple of tries, but what's awesomeness without some failure?

The first batch, you know, the infamous oreo and white chocolate. That stuff never set up. Not on the table, not in the fridge, not in the freezer. Not in a box, nor with a fox. Not in a house nor with a mouse. That fudge was not going to set. You've read my cure.

The second batch was a tad grainy on top. I thought the whole thing was ruined when Handsome Husband was stirring and it was 13 seconds before the timer went off and the bottom was starting to scorch a little, no matter the amount of stirring done. I thought it was ruined again when we were pouring it into the pan and it was falling out kind of thick and when we started getting the last bit out it was definitely sandy looking. Chocolate covered sand. Ewwww. I let Steven cut into it the next day so that he could take our small disaster to work. And what do you know? Miraculously there was not a grain of sand in that whole block of fudge except what we had scraped on top. And after you cut a few squares out of that block and don't see all the sand together in one spot, it actually doesn't look too shabby. It was a wonderful miracle and I insisted on taking back my consent of taking the whole 3 lbs to work and only let him take 2 1/2.

Today I have been baking A LOT. I tried a peanut butter recipe this morning and after much research on fudge making tips and a few insider tips from 'real' people (by real people, I mean people you talk on the phone with rather than a web search) I was ready to conquer the fudge making world. It worked. I am now the mistress of fudge and by forcing my hand I can create complex sugars to break down to smooth, melt in your mouth creme. Not too moist, not too dry. Just right.

I've found a pretty awesome peppermint cookie recipe that will now join the tradition of making Christmas sugar cookies and gingerbread houses. Yes, it's that good. The lady I got it from had a story about how she invented it to use up the extra candy canes laying around the house after Santa put a dozen or more on the tree. I think it's good enough to use for a New Years cookie to use up the candy canes and to go buy candy canes all for the sake of the recipe for before Christmas.