The Famous Christmas Fudge

 Life is too short to hoard recipes, I decided today: you want to give the famous Christmas fudge a try, here it is, and more power to you!

I actually thought the recipe was pretty much fool-proof, to tell you the truth, but a choir member of mine (who is usually behind the deep-fryer at any church function, turning out hot apple hand pies, so a pretty stellar baker!) has trouble getting it to come out. Who knows. 

Here goes: This is it! 

Sum total of <EVERYTHING> you will need for one pan of fudge.

One small (18oz) peanut butter, 

One thing of frosting - this one is cream cheese, but whatever works - 

A spatula, 

A bowl to mix them in, 

And I use a loaf pan to cool the fudge in, because it’s a good size.

Take the lids off the frosting and peanut butter. If you can get the foil totally off without tearing it, that’s ideal, because that means you can put it in the microwave just like it is. If the foils tears, scoop it into the bowl before putting in the microwave.

DO NOT PUT THE FROSTING OR PEANUT BUTTER CONTAINERS IN THE MICROWAVE WITH ANY FOIL STILL STUCK ON THEM.

It all peeled off these nicely, so next we put them in the microwave for 45 seconds each!

[Ignore the second peanut butter there; I was making two batches at once.]

Once you’ve microwaved both your peanut butter and your frosting, pour them into the bowl together and stir until they’re well mixed.

I usually coat my loaf pans with pan spray. Not sure if that’s necessary? But that’s what I do.

Pour the fudge into a load pan. Cover it with foil, and set it aside to cool overnight or for a day or so.

And then all you have to do is cut it, once it’s set up!

People love it, they really do. Hence the ‘Famous’ moniker. I’ve been giving it as gifts for years now. ❤️

Most of us really don’t need more ‘stuff’ at Christmas, but everybody appreciates Christmas candy!

Rocky Road Gluten Free Fudge Cookies (Crispy)

 

These are a variation on my Gluten Free Fudge Cookes, but I think they turned out even better! Plus I found out that marshmallows puff up when you put them in the oven - can you see in the picture there? It was really neat, and they stayed puffed up, too, even as the cookies cooled.

Rocky road gluten free fudge cookies

INGREDIENTS

Cooking spray 

2 1/2 c. powdered sugar

3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

4 cold large egg whites

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 c. chocolate chips

1/2 c. mini marshmallows

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350° and line two baking sheets with parchment paper and very lightly grease with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. 
2. Stir in egg whites and vanilla, then add chocolate chips, marshmallows, and nuts. For shinier cookies, rest dough at room temperature for 20 minutes. Scoop teaspoon-size mounds (no bigger! these things spread out) onto prepared baking sheets and bake until set, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool for about 5 minutes on baking sheet then carefully transfer cookies to a cooling rack with a spatula to cool completely. 

Flourless Fudge Cake with Ganache

 For gluten free folks, this cannot be BEAT.

If you’re diabetic, I made it with sucralose, and so the only sugar was what was in the chocolate itself. Also marvelous! 

The ganache is so simple I don’t know why I haven’t tried it before! This is going to become a favorite cake topping, I do believe.

This time I used semi-sweet chocolate chips. The next time I make it I’m going to try and find my favorite dark Belgian chocolate chunks - wish me luck on that, they’re not always available! But I think they’d be marvelous in this. 

The photo is my aunt’s, she’s the one who got me this recipe! Her cake plate is definitely a prettier presentation than mine, and besides, she got a picture before most of hers was gone, lol.

FLOURLESS FUDGE CAKE WITH GANACHE

Cake Ingredients

Pan spray

One stick butter

1C semisweet or dark chocolate chips

3/4C sugar (or sucralose, if you’re diabetic!)

A grind or two of sea salt

1T espresso powder (Delallo’s is GF)

1t vanilla extract 

3 eggs

1/2C cocoa powder (Hershey’s is GF)

Ganache Ingredients

1C semisweet or dark chocolate chips

1/2t vanilla extract

1/2C heavy cream (often sold as heavy whipping cream, or whipping cream)

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 9-inch cake pan with baking spray. (I’m buying a spring-form pan to make this next time.) Use parchment paper if you want, but I didn’t need to.

Melt the butter and the chocolate chips in the microwave, 15 or 20 seconds at a time. Stir until smooth. Add the sugar, salt, espresso powder, and vanilla. Stir until smooth. Beat your eggs in a small bowl, then add them too. Store until smooth. Add the cocoa powder, and again, stir until smooth. 

Pour the batter into the cake pan and spread it out evenly. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. The recipe said 24-26 minutes, but that was too long in my oven.

Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Then put a wire rack over the top of the pan, and flip it all over to unmold the cake onto the wire rack to finish cooling. 

Once the cake is COMPLETELY COOL, you’re ready to mix up the ganache. 

In a medium bowl or 2C measure, combine the chocolate chips and vanilla. 

In a microwave safe bowl, warm the cream. You want it hot but not bubbling: I did 45 seconds. 

Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and let it sit 2-3 minutes until the chips are mostly melted. Then stir until smooth. 

Spoon the ganache over the COMPLETELY COOLED cake, spreading it out to cover the cake and drip over the edges. Let it stand for at least an hour to set the ganache. 

Gluten Free Fudge Cookies

 

Generally, when a recipe calls for ‘flourless’ anything, that translates into ‘very expensive flours you will have to order online’! But these legit truly are ‘flourless,’ using powdered sugar and cocoa powder. And very good!

I will note, the next time I make these, I’m going to see if I can find gluten free white chocolate chips and maybe add some chopped nuts. This time they just have regular chocolate chips!

INGREDIENTS

Cooking spray 

2 1/2 c. powdered sugar

3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

4 cold large egg whites

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350° and line two baking sheets with parchment paper and very lightly grease with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. 
2. Stir in egg whites and vanilla then add chocolate chips. For shinier cookies, rest dough at room temperature for 20 minutes. Scoop tablespoon-size mounds onto prepared baking sheets and bake until set, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool for about 5 minutes on baking sheet then carefully transfer cookies to a cooling rack with a spatula to cool completely. 

Almond Flour Brownies

We are trying our hand at brownies tonight… this is a total mash-up of about three recipes, two I’ve found on blogs online and one from the almond flour bag! So! It turned out pretty well, in the end, even if it took two batches to get the cooking time right!

I needed some stress-baking and some chocolate tonight, because work is getting stressful, and that won’t let up for probably the next month for so. 

As a by-the-way for my celiac and other gluten free readers, I have just been made aware that NOT all nut flours are gluten free. Some are “processed-in-a-facility” and carry a “Contains: wheat” warning. So be careful! I buy Blue Diamond Almonds brand almond flour, and it is marked GF. 

ALMOND FLOUR BROWNIES

Dry Ingredients:

1C cocoa powder (Hershey’s is marked GF)

1C almond flour (Blue Diamonds is marked GF)

1/2C cornstarch (Argo is also marked GF)

3/4C white sugar

1/3C packed brown sugar

1 1/2t baking powder

1/8t salt 

Wet Ingredients:

4 eggs

1/2C canola oil (or some kind of light oil, vegetable oil or melted coconut oil would do, too)

2t vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350. (I forgot this, as usual!)

Measure all your dry ingredients into a bowl, and mix well.

Measure all your wet ingredients into another bowl, and beat with a fork. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix until blended. 

Pan spray a 9x13. Pan spray it WELL. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes. If you bake them for 12, they will be a bit fudge-ier; if you bake for 15, a knife will come out clean and they will be a bit more cake-like.