Candy Cane Fudge

Hey all.

Where've you been?  I've been looking all over for you.

Kidding.  Just thought I'd try some reverse psychology.

I haven't been writing for the same reasons I wrote about the last time when I explained why I haven't been writing.  Busy.  Tired.  Angry.  Plotting against the cat.

Someday I'll write a whole post about me and the cat.  I'll title it "Poor Kitty".  It'll be an ironic title, because 'Poor Kitty' is just what everybody says when I try to explain why I hate our cat.  No one ever says, "Oh, that animal sounds retarded and exhausting.  It must be so irksome and annoying having to co-exist with it."

Cuz that's what I want people to say.

Instead, for some reason they always say "Oooooooohhh!  Poor kitty!"

That damn cat has everyone fooled.

Anyway.  I haven't been writing, but since the major networks are through with Sweeps Week, I thought I'd at least try to get one Christmasy post in this month and share with you a really easy and yummy recipe for Candy Cane Fudge.  I make it every year for my kids' teachers, my neighbors, and anyone else who I love and appreciate in my little circle of the universe.

I'd give some all to you guys if the internet cloud allowed things like that, though if we give it a few years it'll probably be a possibility.

Let's get started.  Here's what you need:

In case my amazing photography skills don't make it immediately obvious, that's one package of candy canes, 2 10 oz. bags of vanilla baking chips, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract, and red food coloring.

You may also want to include a little helper.  Here's mine:

We call him J, aka Bubbas.  We like him.  

(Most of the time.)

So here's what you do.   Choose a casserole dish that's around 8 or 9 inches in length and width. Wrap some foil around it. 

Let your helper grease it up real good.  Get the corners too.  That's important.  

Now here's the hardest part of the whole recipe.  No other recipe or website in the whole entire world will mention this because it sounds so simple, but I am here to give you a heads up and validate your experience when you too, are faced with the annoyance that is unwrapping cellophane from 12 individual candy canes.  

Those suckers stick to your hands.

   

Get off already!

Sheesh.  The nerve of some cellophane. 

Glad that's over.  Now we can move on to the easy stuff. 

Put all those candy canes in a plastic bag and grab the nearest blunt object.  I used a rolling pin.  

Start crushing. 

Whee! Being destructive is fun! 

Seriously.  What is it about destruction that's so appealing?  I made J hand over the rolling pin so I could have a turn at whacking the candy canes.  It felt good. 

I may or may not have pretended that I was whacking the cat.  

Anyway.  Now you empty the vanilla chips and sweetened condensed milk into a medium saucepan and stir over medium heat.  Right before it's completely melted you need to take it off the heat.  Keep stirring it.  It'll look like this:

When it looks like this, add the 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract:

Then you stir it up, little darling.  Stir it up. 

Sorry.  We're almost done.  

Last, you add in the candy canes and a dash of food coloring:

Now, last year I only added one or two drops, stirred it lightly, and ended up with a real pretty red and white marbled effect.  This year, a certain little helper got a smidge liberal with the food coloring, so my fudge turned out this color:

No matter. 

Spread it into the foil lined casserole dish, sprinkle a few renegade candy cane crumbs along the top, and refrigerate for at least two hours. 

At the end of the two hours, remove from the fridge and cut into 1 inch blocks. 

Delicious. 

Someone told me last year that they made this with dark chocolate chips and that it was divine.  THEN, today I had what I think may be a brilliant idea.  What if we put a teaspoon or two of ground expresso in the mix with dark chocolate chips and made Peppermint Mocha Fudge?  You know- like the Starbucks Holiday Drink?  If any of you guys decide to give that a try, be sure to let me know how it turns out.  

As for me, I'll probably be making an extra batch of this this year in case Animal Cruelty gets wind of this post and comes knocking on my door.  You think they accept bribes?  

Have a good night!