kattitudes

There have been a number of requests, both here and via email, for the marshmallow fluff fudge recipes that I use. Honestly, they are nothing special. I use the recipes from the back of the Fluff bottle, but rather than use the plastic Fluff, I use my homemade Fluff recipe instead.

Remember that the homemade marshmallow creme (fluff) does not have the preservatives that the canned Fluff has plus it has egg whites, which means that it must be stored in the refrigerator.

Regular Fudge

1 1/3 cup sugar
1 jar (7 1/2 ounces or 1 cup) marshmallow fluff
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup coffee liqueur
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate bits
1 cup milk chocolate bits
2/3 cup walnuts (if desired)
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a 2-quart pot, combine sugar, Fluff, evaporated milk, butter, salt and coffee liqueur. Over low heat, stir until mixed. Bring to full boil over medium heat and boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate, nuts and vanilla until mixed. Pour into buttered 8 x 8-inch pan. Makes about 2 1/4 lbs.

“Never Fail” Fudge

2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick butter or margarine
1 can (5.33 ounce or 3/4 cup) evaporated milk
1 jar (7 1/2 ounces or 1 cup) Marshmallow Fluff
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 12 ounces package semisweet-chocolate pieces
1 /2 cup chopped walnuts

Grease a 9-inch square baking pan; set aside. In large saucepan combine first 5 ingredients. Stir over low heat until blended. Heat to a full-rolling boil being careful not to mistake escaping air bubbles for boiling. Boil slowly, stirring constantly, 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and chocolate until chocolate is melted. Add nuts. Turn into greased pan and cool. Makes 2 1/2 pounds.

Peanut Butter Fudge

2 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 stick butter or margarine
1 can (5.33 ounce or 3/4 cup) evaporated milk
1 Jar (7 1/2 ounces or 1 cup) Marshmallow Fluff
3/4 teaspoon salt
9 ounces peanut butter (creamy or chunky)

Grease a 9-inch square baking pan; set aside. In large saucepan combine first 5 ingredients. Stir over low heat until blended. Over medium heat, bring to a full-rolling boil being careful not to mistake escaping air bubbles for boiling. Boil slowly, stirring constantly, 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in peanut butter until blended. Turn into greased pan and cool.
Makes 2 1/2 pounds.

So far, we have dipped pretzels and dipped peppermint sticks and finally dipped caramels. So now, we shall dip marshmallows as simple Christmas gifts this year. These are tasty treat delights.

If you doubt the drawing power of such a gift, let me tell you - I looked in Williams Sonoma today. A pound of marshmallows dipped in caramel was selling for twenty six dollars.

Twenty six dollars. For a pound of marshmallows. Dipped in caramel. Now that is insane. Yes, it sounds wonderful, but oh. my. gosh. Outrageous on the cost.

To make my dips, I simply melt chocolate chips in a double boiler (a bowl suspended over a pan of water). As the chocolate chips are melting, I add a splash of heavy cream and basically make a ganache.

One word of warning when it comes to dipping marshmallows: marshmallows melt oh so easily, so be very aware of the temperature of your melted chocolate mixture. I find it easiest to use a spoon and slowly spoon the melted chocolate mixture over the marshmallows, rather than dip the marshmallows directly into the warm melted chocolate.

So maybe consider putting some of these together as a sweet gift for friends or neighbors. A stick or two of marshmallows, along with a peppermint stick, next to a bag of homemade hot cocoa mix, and you have one heck of a wonderful homemade gift set all packaged and ready to hand out.

I keep suggesting all these Christmas stockings, throw pillows and so on to make out of all types of felt fabric, which means by now you must have all manner of snips and bits of felt remnants floating around your general sewing area.

If you wanted to entertain the children (big or small), consider using a few scraps to roll together a nice little hat for a few candy canes. It gives them a nice personality and makes them look so interesting poking out of the top of a Christmas stocking.

They are not hard to put together and they do not take much fabric. You can use a needle and thread and put them together with just a few stitches or, because they are so small, you could even put them together with a drop or two of glue.

Oh nummy! What a wonderful idea from BHG and this is an oh so easy Christmas present to whip out at the last minute.

Take those wrapped caramels, unwrap, melt a variety of the different chips that you have in your pantry and dip your caramels just a little (or a lot, depending on how much you like the extra flavors).

After you dip your caramels into your melted chocolate or melted vanilla or melted cinnamon or so on, you can then dip them in chopped nuts or cake sprinkles or chopped candy or whatever strikes your fancy.

This would make such a fast gift, especially if you are short on time. As long as you have what you need in your pantry, you could put this together in no time at all.

And you know, you would not really need to keep this just for a gift. This is the season for holiday parties, and this would make a fantastic take along treat or cocktail party sweetie.

Pulling taffy used to be a family or party activity, but it is something that you absolutely can do by yourself. As an germ-o-phobe, I much prefer to do my own taffy pulling rather than having eleventy dozen people touching my candy, but still, I can see the fun in making candy in a group.

Even I, as a confirmed germophobe, can see the absolute fun in coordinating a taffy pull one night to have your children make a batch of homemade candy as a holiday gift for their friends or a special teacher.

The directions sound a little complex, but actually, if your kids play with their bubble gum, then they are ready to pull taffy. It is the exact same process.

Ingredients:

2 cups unsulfured molasses
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons cider or white vinegar

Butter a platter or baking sheet. In a large saucepan, combine all the ingredients.

Stirring constantly, bring to a boil and cook, without stirring, until the mixture reaches 250 degrees F (the hard-ball stage) on a candy thermometer, or until a small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water forms a ball that is hard enough to hold its shape yet is pliable.

Pour onto the platter. Using a spatula, turn the edges toward the center to speed cooling. Pull taffy.

Before you begin, grease a pair of scissors and have on hand squares of wax paper for wrapping.

Let your cooked taffy sit just until it is barely cool enough to work with (if it gets too cool, you can warm it in a 350 F oven for 3 to 4 minutes).

Coat your hands well with cornstarch or butter. Form the candy into one or more balls and start pulling.

Working fast, pull a lump of candy between the fingertips of one hand and the other until it is about 15 inches long.

Double it up and pull again. Continue pulling, as above, until the candy is porous and hard to pull.

Stretch the candy into a rope about 3/4 inch in diameter.

Cut with the greased scissors into 1-inch pieces. To prevent sticking, wrap each piece of candy individually in a square of wax paper; twist the ends to seal. Keep the wrapped candies in a tightly closed tin.

On Sunday I talked about chocolate dipped pretzels with all types of variations. Today I wandered to BHG and found the same idea, but instead of using pretzels, they used peppermint sticks. It looks as if they used just chocolate and rolled it in chopped nuts, much like some of the pretzels examples I showed.

What a great combination! Can you imagine using both for a quick and easy present? If you need to put together a Secret Santa gift this season, how about a couple dipped pretzel rods and a dipped peppermint stick wrapped together in a coffee mug.

This would also be a fantastic idea to produce en masse if you need to put together a large number of gifts for a small expense.

An absolutely wonderful highly popular (semi) homemade holiday kitchen gift given at Christmas time is is the chocolate dipped pretzel. People love these things. The combination of crunchy and salty and sweet chocolate is just addictive.

Dipped pretzels have become such a popular gift that large bags of dipping pretzels are regularly sold at most grocery stores now, so it is quite easy to find any type of pretzel you wish to make these gifts.

Also, you are not limited to just melted chocolate for your dipping material. Think of all the types of chips out there these days: caramel, butterscotch, peanut butter, white chocolate, cinnamon, and so on. There are so many options available that the choices are almost getting insane.

And after you make your choice for the dipping medium, you then can decide if you want to cover, roll or sprinkle anything on the wet pretzel for decoration and/or additional taste delights. Some suggestions include:

miniature chocolate chips
white chocolate chips
caramel candies then pecans then chocolate
peppermint candies
miniature m&m candies
nuts, finely chopped
cake sprinkles
dried coconut
honey roasted peanuts
toffee candy
macadamia nuts with white chocolate

I love making fudge for Christmas gifts (and I love watching my friends enjoy it), but I just hate using store bought Marshmallow Fluff. You know the stuff. In the jar. Fluff. It is so famous.

It is just the idea. Every time I look at it, I think to myself “melted plastic”. It just makes the obsessive in me a little queasy.

So knowing that I can now make my own marshmallows quite successfully, I wondered why on earth did I have to rely on the jar of melted plastic to make that wonderful Christmas fudge?

And thusly, homemade marshmallow creme began. This works just like Fluff in a jar. And all the ingredients can be found in your own cupboards, as opposed to a laboratory. It gives me a modicum of comfort about passing along all the fudge now.

Ingredients:

2 cups sifted confections sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 egg whites
2 cups light corn syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In large bowl, combine egg whites, syrup and salt. Beat for 10 minutes until thick. At low speed, add confectioners sugar. Add vanilla extract and beat until blended. Makes two quarts.

Once you taste homemade marshmallows, you will wonder why you ever allowed that store bought filth to pass your lips. The light airy wonder that is what marshmallows are really supposed to taste like is remarkable. I have never been a marshmallow fanatic, enjoying them in my time, but perfectly willing to pass them by.

Now, having had to give up chocolate (migraine sufferer), the thought of missing out on this particular delight this Christmas actually is depressing. This combination makes an incredible homemade gift: your own cocoa mix and homemade marshmallows. What a knockout flavor set.

Ingredients:

2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
cornstarch
confectioners sugar

Mix granulated sugar with 3/4 cup water. Simmer to soft ball stage (small amount dropped in cold water forms soft ball [240 degrees F]).

Remove from heat. Soften gelatin in the 1/2 cup cold water. Place on a large platter. Pour hot syrup over softened gelatin. Stir until dissolved. Let stand until partially cooled.

Whip until thick and white and mixture will nearly hold its shape (approximately 8 minutes with an electric beater). Add vanilla extract and salt. Pour into straight sided pans lined with equal parts cornstarch and confectioners sugar, mixed together. Let stand in cool place until firm but not refrigerator as that will cause it to set up wrong.

Now it is time to shape the marshmallows. You can either cut them directly into squares using a pair of scissors, or if you are feeling like having some fun, you can use cookie cutters to create all kinds of fun and wacky shapes. Once you are done cutting the marshmallows, dust the finished product with confectioners sugar.

You can also dip part of your marshmallow in chocolate, making a fantastic taste delight, as these ones have been dipped. You must be cautious in the process of dipping, however, not to heat the chocolate too much, as it will melt your marshmallow as it is being dipped. You must let the chocolate cool almost to the point of re solidification again before dipping your marshmallow. Experimentation will lead you to the correct point.

I use a recipe from Epicuriouswith great success. It has worked wonderfully for me so far, but I am always open to variations. At this point, I don’t cut my bark into perfect and pretty little triangles as per the instructions. I pretty much just pick it up and break it into pieces. But whatever works for you is best.

Ingredients:

17 ounces good-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or Baker’s), finely chopped
30 red-and-white-striped hard peppermint candies, coarsely crushed (about 6 ounces)
7 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 tablespoons whipping cream
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

Turn large baking sheet bottom side up. Cover securely with foil. Mark 12 x 9-inch rectangle on foil. Stir white chocolate in metal bowl set over saucepan of barely simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water) until chocolate is melted and smooth and candy thermometer registers 110°F. (chocolate will feel warm to touch). Remove from over water.

Pour 2/3 cup melted white chocolate onto rectangle on foil. Using icing spatula, spread chocolate to fill rectangle. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup crushed peppermints. Chill until set, about 15 minutes.

Stir bittersweet chocolate, cream and peppermint extract in heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat until just melted and smooth. Cool to barely lukewarm, about 5 minutes.

Pour bittersweet chocolate mixture in long lines over white chocolate rectangle. Using icing spatula, spread bittersweet chocolate in even layer. Refrigerate until very cold and firm, about 25 minutes.

Rewarm remaining white chocolate in bowl set over barely simmering water to 110°F. Working quickly, pour white chocolate over firm bittersweet chocolate layer; spread to cover. Immediately sprinkle with remaining crushed peppermints. Chill just until firm, about 20 minutes.

Lift foil with bark onto work surface; trim edges. Cut bark crosswise into 2-inch-wide strips.

Using metal spatula, slide bark off foil and onto work surface. Cut each strip crosswise into 3 sections and each section diagonally into 2 triangles. Let stand 15 minutes at room temperature before serving. (Can be made 2 weeks ahead. Chill in airtight container.)