Holiday Treats: Chocolate Caramel Walnut fudge

‘Tis the Season…
Christmas comes but once a year,
And when it does we gather near
To friends and family we hold dear
And celebrate with holiday cheer!

The holidays are approaching and so no wonder that I am in ‘verse’ mode.  All the lights and the decorations make me happy and merry – yes it is the season to be cheerful! And making/baking holiday goodies makes me even more giddy with happiness! My husband thinks its all the sugar in those goodies that makes me dizzy! LOL!

Anyways here I go again….some more holiday poetry and humor 🙂

Let the warmth of friendship
Take a chill from the air
And the spirit of the season
Make winter easier to bear

Your Sweater might be frightful,

But a holiday party is most delightful!

Ugly sweaters and good cheers

It’s that time of the year! – Eat, Drink and Be Ugly!

By the way, the above verses and the inherent humor within them is not my original. I just found them on the internet and being so giddy did not really note the sites that I got them from so unfortunately I am unable to acknowledge the source:( I hope you will forgive me after all tis the season of forgiveness!

This year I wanted to make fudge and so I had pinned several fudge recipes about a dozen I think.  I actually wanted to make each one of them – I am sure you would too if you looked at all the pictures! Anyways this past weekend I made two different kinds of fudge – chocolate caramel walnut and white chocolate cranberry pistachio to begin with. Both turned out fabulous plus they were a breeze to make! These are great holiday gifts since they are easy to package and retain well.  However, I did bring both these to work last week and they were all gone pretty fast! 🙂

I am giving the Chocolate fudge recipe below and will post the white chocolate one next.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces,chopped into tiny pieces
• 1/2 cup butterscotch chips (or toffee bits)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp instant espresso/coffee granules
• additional walnut pieces for topping

Method:

Take a square baking pan and line with wax paper or Al foil. Lightly grease the paper and make sure you have extra papaer hanging out from the edges (overhang) so you can easily get the fudge out when set, Set the pan aside.

Take a large glass mixing bowl and add the butter, chocolate chips and the condensed milk and heat in the microwave in 30 second intervals and stirring using a spoon or a whisk until all the chocolate chips has melted (about 2 minutes total ) and then add the toffee bits, the walnut pieces, vanilla and the coffee and mix again.

Pour this mixture immediately onto the prepared pan. Take a flat spatula and oil/butter on one side and using this flatten the surface until smooth.  Sprinkle the extra walnut pieces on top.  Keep in the refrigerator to set for about 2 hours.

Take out from the refrigerator and using the overhang get the fudge block out and place inverted on a wooden / cutting board. Gently remove the foil or wax paper from the back. Using a sharp big knife make cuts to get small 1 inch square pieces.