Holiday Ribbon Fudge

With every mishap comes a brilliant ray of hope and renewal. Look for my adventures with popstacks and Lebkuchen to be posted soon. That aside, I have found my new favorite thing to make: Fudge. This is not your grandmother's recipe and no, it's not the best you've ever tasted, at least I hope not, but it will make you appear a much better kitchen master than you really are. I recently suggested this to one of my friends that has more kids than time. I swear it only takes about 10 min, not including cooling time.

I was in some grocery store or another a few weeks ago. I never seem to shop at the same one. Anyway, I passed by a center aisle display of holiday baking supplies. I did a double take and walked a few steps backward. One of the condensed milk cans was facing the wrong way and I had glimpsed a recipe on the back. Chocolate and Eagle Brand for fudge? I had never heard of that combination but it started me thinking. It made sense, I mean after all you make ganache with cream and chocolate, hell, even truffles in the right proportions. I had to try it.

I really have no idea what the recipe on the can actually was. Nowadays I usually only glance at the ingredients to decide whether I can make/would like something like that or not. The only thing stuck in my mind was chocolate and sweetened condensed milk. Making cream pies has its benefits. I had 14oz of sweetened condensed milk in my freezer at home. All I needed was the chocolate. I choose milk chocolate thinking that semi-sweet would be too strong. Looking back, semi-sweet would have been fine, especially for fudge lovers.

The day I made my first batch I was in a particularly strong holiday mode. Instead of using all of the milk chocolate that I had purchased for this occasion I opted to festively color some white baking chocolate or almond bark. It's super easy. Just melt down the blocks or chips, drip in some coloring and layer into a wax paper lined baking dish. I have since made some chocolate/peanut butter fudge using this same method. It was a hit. Both batches came out silky and dense with a hint of milky flavor. Below is the recipe for holiday ribbon fudge but feel free to experiment with different flavor combinations.

Makes ~2 lbs of fudge

1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk, divided
1 (11oz) bag of milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (11oz) bag of white chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract, divided
red food coloring
green food coloring
wax paper

1. Line an 8x8" baking dish with wax paper. Set aside.
2. In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine half of the condensed milk and the milk chocolate chips. Don't worry about stirring at this point.
3. Heat for 30 sec intervals in the microwave on HIGH until melted. Stir well after each interval. If the mixture becomes clumpy, add solid vegetable shortening in 1/2 tsp increments until the mixture becomes fluid and glossy.
4. In a separate bowl, repeat for melting the white chocolate.
5. Stir 1/2 tsp vanilla into each bowl.
6. To the white chocolate add 3-4 drops of each food coloring. Stir very slightly (1 or 2 circles of the bowl) with a knife. The colors will ribbon as you pour it into the prepared pan.
7. Begin layering the chocolate mixtures into the prepared dish. Do not stir. Just pour one on top of the other. Keep in mind that the bottom of the dish will be the top of the fudge.
8. Once all chocolate as been poured in, rap the dish on the counter several times to settle the fudge.
9. Cover the surface of the fudge with wax paper.
10. Let cool completely at room temperature, 2-3 hours.
11. Once cooled and set, turn the dish upside down and slowly pull the fudge out using the wax paper to grip.
12. Remove all paper and place the fudge bottom side up on a cutting surface.
13. Cut into small squares.
14. Store covered at room temperature.

Almost Gianduia Biscotti

Sitting here at work with my eyes blurry from lack of sleep I was thinking intently about biscotti. Actually, more to the point, I was thinking about dunking biscotti into a nice, large mug of steaming, hot hazelnut latte. If I were Italian then my fantasy would probably include a nice glass of wine instead of coffee. But, alas, I'm not and I'm tired so my mind refuses to even admit the substitution.

I'll just have to wait until I get home this afternoon because I'm not, repeat am not, going to go to Starbucks and throw away $8. I could probably make at least 20 biscotti for that price. Matter of fact, I have some sitting on my counter right now from several weeks ago. They quite literally will keep forever especially in a cool house like mine. Back during Roman times these hard little cookies were the staples of soldiers and adventurers. "Hard" just about sums it up too.

After baking my first batch I had to check for poison. I mean, I wouldn't want anyone else dying because I neglected to check a batch of cookies. I just picked up a small piece, the scraggly ones are always sacrificed for the greater good, and proceeded to break out my front teeth. OK, I didn't actually chip any teeth but it sure felt like it for a second. Pressing on, I proceeded to bite chunks off with my jaw teeth and crunch the rock like biscuit to bits. Don't ask why I didn't make coffee or dip it in some milk or tea. I'm just weird like that and I honestly have no idea. Needless to say, my mouth was kind of abused that day but I was satisfied that, yes, I had avoided the poison and the batch was safe.

The next day, I made some hot tea and the biscotti was only better when dunked. The hot liquid infused the bread with flavor while slightly melting the chocolate. Somehow you could taste the flavor of the almonds more strongly even though the bread was now saturated with Lady Grey. It was really good.

I'm thinking seriously of making some biscotti with dried cherries, dark chocolate and pecans for Christmas. My previous batch with almonds and dark chocolate reminded me of Gianduia, that quintessential chocolate/hazelnut combination. You can pretty much use biscotti as a tabula rasa just like shortbread. Just keep in mind that with Italian biscotti 2 c. is about the limit with add-ins, especially nuts. Otherwise, the dough becomes too crumbly and will likely fall apart on you. If you find yourself too adventurous, try adding 2 tbsp water or oil and work it in until the dough holds up.

The recipe for this biscotti base comes from The King Arthur Cookie Companion. There is an entire chapter on biscotti; 22 pages, yeah that's right, 22 pages of biscotti. This is a great book full of tips, techniques, and both American and International treats. If you're into baking you should definitely check it out.

Makes 14 - 16 biscotti

2 eggs
2/3 c. sugar
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. dark chocolate chips (opt.)
1 c. whole natural almonds, roughly broken (opt.)

1. Preheat oven 350°F.
2. Lightly grease a large baking sheet. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, all ingredients except add-ins and flour until creamy and thin as pancake batter. Add water if necessary.
4. Slowly add flour until totally incorporated.
5. Stir in chocolate and nuts.
6. Transfer dough to prepared pan and shape it into a wide log roughly 14" long, 2 ½" wide and ¾" thick.
7. Smooth the top and sides with a wet scraper or spatula.
8. Bake 25 min.
9. Let cool on pan ~20 min. Then remove to cutting board.
10. Lightly sprinkle or spritz water over log to soften crust and make cutting easier. Wait 5 min.
11. Reduce oven to 325°F.
12. Cut biscotti into ½ - ¾" slices.
13. Set the biscotti upright on prepared pan ~½" apart.
14. Bake 25 min.
15. Remove from oven and cool completely on rack.
16. Store in an airtight container.

Fabulous Kahlua Brownies

Unfortunately for some, I'm not speechless very often. Being speechless is a very odd sensation, like your brain just suddenly went on vacation. You open your mouth meaning to say something, what, you have no idea. You close it again...open, nothing. If you've never experienced it yourself then you probably think I'm crazy but that's OK. I can take it. Last night, I was speechless. This weekend I'm having some friends over and I decided to make a cookie tray. I know brownies aren't exactly cookies but bear with me. So, of course, I had to make sure that what I was serving wasn't going to be poison or anything, hence the missing squares. Now, I have at least 3 very good brownie recipes. I make brownies EVERY year for the stupid Christmas party at work. Cut into little fingers, drizzled with melted chocolate and topped with candy, these never fail to astound my coworkers. Yes, people, brownies can be cut into fingers. They don't have to be squares. It's not rocket science here, not even advanced chemistry. This brownie though...my mouth just worked like a fish out of water, speechless. When my voice came back I turned to my husband and said, "pretty good, huh?". All he could do was nod.

This recipe is a variation from King Arthur Flour. It's fudgy and at the same time cakey. A contradiction in terms, maybe, but trust me, they are really, really good. You can double this if you like. Not a fan of Kahlua? Then just leave it out.

Makes 1 dozen 2" brownies

1/2 c. butter, melted
1 c. + 2 tbsp sugar
1/2 c. + 2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp Kahlua
2 eggs
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. walnuts, chopped or broken
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (toss with 1 tbsp flour to help prevent sinking)

1. Preheat oven 350 F (325 F, glass)
2. Grease a 8x8" baking dish, set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, heat the butter and sugar on HIGH at 30 sec intervals in the microwave until hot but not boiling.
4. Stir well to help dissolve the sugar.
5. It won't all dissolve.
6. Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, vanilla and Kahlua.
7. Add the eggs and continue stirring. The batter will start to become shiny and uniform.
8. Stir in the flour, just until combined well.
9. Add the nuts and chocolate chips.
10. Stir only until you no longer see any flour. Over-stirring will defeat the purpose of flouring the chips.
11. Bake 25-30 min or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean and the center is set.
12. Cool in pan and then cut into desired squares...or fingers!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pining for some comfort food this week, I returned to a long loved recipe of mine. Nothing says comfort like warm, oozy chocolate nestled in a crisp, buttery cookie. I tend to blend my chocolate, half bittersweet (60%) and half semi-sweet. I like the Ghirardelli brand. I feel that they offer a good, even chocolate. For a refreshing holiday cookie, I add ½ c. Andes peppermint chips to the batter. This time, I also threw in some walnuts, because they're good for your HDL cholesterol, of course; no other reason.

This dough freezes beautifully. Just scoop by tablespoons onto some wax paper and freeze about 20 min. You can then place them into a freezer bag and, ta-dah, easier and tastier than break-and-bake store bought cookies. Very convenient for unexpected guests; nothing says home like the wafting fragrance of baking cookies. You can bake them straight from frozen, just add 2-3 min, depending on your oven, to the cooking time.

On a tangent, for the longest time I didn't have a cookie scoop. I felt like this was a wasted expense and my tbsp measuring spoon and a trusted dinner spoon were more than adequate. And they were, for years. I happened to be in one of my browsing/buying moods recently at a local kitchen store and decided what the heck. When I got home, opened my shopping bag and pulled out my brand new $8 cookie scoop, I felt, well, embarrassed. It looked like a mini ice cream scooper. What on earth was I thinking? I love it though. My hands no longer get covered with gooky batter and my cookies are even more uniform than ever. Think about investing in one if you make a lot of cookies.

Makes 2 dozen

1 c. + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, unsifted
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ c. unsalted butter, softened
¼ c. + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
¼ c. + 2 tbsp dark brown sugar, packed
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 egg
1 c. chocolate chips (semi-sweet, bittersweet, milk, or a blend)
½ c. walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)

1. Preheat oven 375°F.
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
4. Add vanilla and egg.
5. Mix well to incorporate.
6. Gradually add dry mixture into creamed mixture.
7. Stir in chips and nuts, if desired.
8. Drop by tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. (I bake on waxed paper for easy transfer between batches.)
9. Bake 9-11 min or until cookies begin to turn golden around edges. Let stand 1 min on baking sheet before removing to cooling rack. If using wax paper, simply slide the entire sheet off the baking pan onto the counter.