Best Ever Homemade Caramel Candy

Soft caramels are my most requested holiday treat. They are tender buttery, with just the right texture when made correctly. I roll them up yearly and put them in the kid's stockings or a string around the tree. For a few years now, I've ordered them from a friend due to health issues, but I can make them again this year, and I'm thrilled! If you've been searching for an old-fashioned caramel recipe that works without fail, this is the one. 

My youngest son, Luke, is home from his missionary service this year. He will be here for a few months and then off to college.  My older son Samuel started his mission in August. He is serving locally, and we're blessed to have him home. I know these last two precious years are going to go by quickly! It seems like I started this blog only yesterday. The days are long, but the years are short. As we gather together in the kitchen, there is joy! I have never felt more blessed as a mother. 

So yes. We're making the caramels. It has to happen. 

Chef’s note:

• Temperature matters. The most important part of making homemade caramels is ensuring they reach the right temperature. For soft caramels, 238°F is the perfect temperature. I like to use a candy thermometer while stirring/cooking the caramels, and then, MOST IMPORTANTLY, I double-check the temperature with an instant thermometer. Be sure to check the temperature in the middle of the caramel mixture! The temperature won't be correct if the thermometer touches the pan's bottom.
• Use a stainless-steel pot if possible! These caramels turn out so much better when made in a stainless-steel pot (as opposed to an enameled Dutch Oven).

Prep Time15minutes minutes

Cook Time1hour hour

Best Ever Homemade Caramel Candy

2 sticks butter (1 cup)
4 cups sugar
2 cups dark corn syrup
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 12 oz. cans evaporated milk
2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

• Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper and set aside.
• Melt the butter, sugar, corn syrup, and salt together in a large, heavy-bottomed stainless-steel pot over medium heat.
• Once the mixture comes to a boil, add the evaporated milk a little at a time, taking 10 minutes per can and stirring constantly.
•  Once all the milk is added, bring the mixture to 238-240°F. Temperature is pivotal.  Use a candy thermometer, not any hotter! Even a few degrees hotter will make the caramels really chewy instead of tender and soft. This will take another 15-20 minutes. Double-check the temperature with an instant-read thermometer. Be sure to check the caramel mixture in the middle without touching the pan's bottom.
•  Immediately pour into the prepared pan and cool completely. Once the caramels are cool, it is recommended to refrigerate them for a few hours to get the caramel solid enough to slice. Cut and wrap in individual pieces of wax paper.

Storage:

Store them in an airtight container or in a candy jar. One can also store them in the fridge. They will last several weeks!

There you go! Make some amazing caramels and enjoy this Christmas with those you love. I know I am! 

Always My Very Best, 
Your Friend Chef Tess

No-cook Pinto Bean Fudge

I taught a bean cooking class today. Pinto beans were on the menu...but let's just be honest. When you see a picture of pinto beans, you don't ever think of creamy chocolate fudge. Ever. When I usually teach a bean class, the pintos are a savory dish.  In fact, when I talk pinto I usually think of that horrid news-station report of "the latest breaking news on the toddler who put 12 beans up their nose and is now in critical condition as the beans sprout..." but if you're like me you don't think of fudge. Right? Because if you think of fudge, well, you're just not normal. I said it.

That being said, when a friend of mine started gushing the phrase , "Tess you should try making pinto bean fudge!" I thought to myself, "yeah, that will happen..." 

Well. Something froze over. I decided it didn't sound that crazy when I read this no-cook super simple recipe for pinto bean fudge. In all honesty, I thought, "well, I'd only be out a little sugar and some beans if it totally stinks." So, I decided to stop being a kill-joy and try something new.  Granted, I also had to change it a bit to make it set better and give it some unique Chef-like twists, but I'm confessing right now...it is evil in a very creamy, very delicious kind of way.  The beans lend a perfectly smooth texture if you puree or mash them really well. In all honesty, it is still fudge. The addition of the pinto beans seems to be more of a novelty than anything...but it does make a really delicious fudge.  Confession. I'm now joining the ranks of the not-normal pinto thinkers. (shh. I know you've thought, "This girl isn't even close to normal!" Now you have proof...)

Tess' Version of Pinto Bean Fudge (don't knock it until you try it)
Ingredients
1 cup of cooked pinto beans ( mashed or puree until smooth)
1 cup of melted butter (no substitutions)

10 oz melted dark chocolate
1 Tbsp vanilla

1 tsp rum flavor
1 cup natural baking cocoa
2 lb powdered sugar (7 cups)

1/2 tsp Chef Tess Wise Woman of the East blend

dash of cayanne pepper

1 cup toasted walnuts (if desired but I think this is the only way to have fudge)
Directions:
First, mash the beans. I use a food processor so you can get them real smooth ( the one cup measure is before mashing).
Then, combine the mashed beans with the melted butter, melted chocolate, vanilla, and cocoa in a heavy  mixer with a paddle attachment. After that’s all combined, add the powdered sugar. Add nuts.
Blend well 3-4 minutes until smooth.

Spread the fudge mixture into an 8 by 8 inch pan lined with non-stick foil or parchment. Set 2-3 hours. Remove the paper or foil. 
Slice with a sharp knife. Keep chilled.

There you go. Pinto beans can be made into fudge. Who know?  Seriously love. Try not to think about the other uses for pinto beans. Think fudge instead of sprouts. I know I will. 


Do you want to hear about these adventures as they unfold? Join me on My Facebook Page.

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Homemade Marzipan and Roses using Almond Flour

I've always loved how marzipan works for roses. I haven't always liked the price for marzipan though.  In culinary school I'd save for weeks to get enough cash to buy a tube of the stuff. I think it's an acquired taste. I have Danish ancestry and it appears we are just naturally pre-disposed to a love of marzipan.  But what is it? Marzipan is a sweet edible almond confection dough that is used to make decorative pieces for cakes and pastries. It's a candy dough for all intents and purposes.  It's also used in some almond fillings, cakes and cookies. Sometimes it's flavored with rose water or liquore. My favorite use for it is making roses for wedding and special occasion cakes. I previously gave the tutorial for making gorgeous Sculpted Roses from homemade modeling chocolate here. It's the exact same process to form roses using marzipan except the marzipan is a stickier  dough and will take a little more finesse. I think you can handle it. 

French marzipan is made by combining almond meal with a sugar syrup. This recipe is one that I came up with and now am using Blanched Almond flour. It's simple. Too simple.. It's gluten free. I have fun with it. The secret ingredient is honey! It gives a great sweetness and it's all natural. You want it to be thick but not dry and crumbly. In my experience, warming the honey is key. If you mix it in cold, it will not work as well. 

 My Chef Tess Homemade Marzipan

2 1/2 cups-3 Blanched Almond flour (about 12 oz)
1/2 cup thick light colored honey OR corn syrup 
1 tsp almond extract 

Lightly warm the honey in the microwave in a small bowl for 30 seconds until runny or use a double boiler and stir until thin. Mix in the flavoring. Mix with the 2 1/2-3 cups of almond flour until a very thick clay-like dough is achieved.  Knead it a minute or so.  Cover and let the dough sit 1-2 hours. The marzipan is ready to sculpt. Use powdered sugar or cornstarch on your work surfaces in a light dusting to keep it from sticking. 

There you go. How to make homemade marzipan! 

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Homemade "Thin Mint" Cookies and Chocolate Dipping in the ETT

Today I visited Evil Tara and had some much needed girlie time in the Evil Think Tank-o-glory dipping chocolate for the holidays. I talked about the secrets for good chocolate dipping this week Here.  Tara had a heap of these dipped cookies to do. I am a friend. I'll dip chocolate out of the goodness of my heart. Bwhahaha! Well...I may have had other motivations. Case in point. These...

 I adore Tara's thin mint cookies. Even more, I love how simple they are to make! It's just six drops of LorAnn Peppermint Oil to a half pound of melted  dark chocolate...

 Oh...and a few sleeves of Ritz crackers. 

 I kid you not when I say they are pure genius! The light salt and the crisp and the chocolate...I get so excited I almost pop!

We also dipped a hundred of these...

 I know that Oreo makes chocolate covered Oreos now in  nice packages, but there's nothing like putting really nice chocolate on a chocolate cookie and drizzling it with more chocolate. You know...for artistic purposes. Purely artistic purposes.

Our friend Kayola was there and said I needed to do "like a red tree" on them. So...this one's for Kayola! Thanks for the how did you say?  "The Bass Ackward" way of doing the trees! Hillllllllarious my friend! Grin. 

Raspberry Clusters. Prepare to be dazzled! Insert Chef Tess and her lame cool-self making cheesy Jazz hands!   Last but not least on the list of Evil amazing...the chocolate dipped Freeze Dried Raspberry. Just a few in a little good quality chocolate.

 They come out in these little clusters that look like peanut clusters. However, this is big, they taste like a piece of heaven. The fruit is tart and the chocolate sweet. It's perfection. I loved that the fruit just stayed crispy like a raspberry rice-crisp{ almost}.  Picture me just rolling my eyes back in my head and passing out when I say, "A-freakin-mazing". If you want my humble (yet accurate) opinion...everyone should make them. 

There you go.

Another trip to the Evil Think Tank...totally worth it. Yes. I am going jogging in the morning! Xoxo!

We're having a great Giveaway this week too. So pop over and see what you could win! 

Always My Very Best,

Your Friend Chef Tess

Jerri's Almond Joy and a Little Chocolate Dipping 101

It's candy making week on the blog. I say week but it's only been two actual blog posts so far. I'll try to be more ambitious in the future and do one every day of the week. Wow. I just said I could be more ambitious. That's scary.  Christmas is getting closer and some serious attention must be given to the brown snowballs. Really. We're having a great Giveaway this week too. So pop over and see what you could win. Or just stay here and look at this picture of chocolate for a few dreamy minutes. Dream. Dream. Grin. Grin.

I am a chocolate nut.  seriously.  Pastry school ruined me.  In a good way.  There are a lot of chocolate products and coatings out there.  Use what your family prefers.  Don't let me be a bad influence.  Just know in advance that there are a lot of things to know when working with chocolate, and even now I still learn something new every time I turn around.  here are a few tips that help, but there is a ton of information on the Internet and in books on working with chocolate and chocolate candy making. 

Someone asked me this week if it was okay to use chocolate chips to dip pretzels and stuff. Chocolate chips, since you asked,  are funny because if it is a higher  quality and not the cheapy stuff ( I'd say Guitard or Giradelli or Nestle Chocolaiter) and isn't heated over 130 degrees for the dark chocolates, and 120 degrees for the milk chocolate it should be fine for coating. However, and this is a big however, it's really hard to judge if it has been out in the heat or not. Once chocolate has separated due to heat, it's got to go through the whole tempering process. That's fun. I'm not even showing that today. Just know for chocolate, I'd rather see you get a good bar of the good stuff and chop it fine. To ensure it stays nice,  I use a thermometer when working with chocolate. 

 If it gets too hot, the chocolate will get white splotches on it when cooled called "bloom".  It is still safe to eat, but it looks funny.  It may even look like it was coated in a white powder if it doesn't get the splotches.  It isn't shiny and pretty like you would expect.  This is caused by overheating-- the cocoa butter will separate from the chocolate solids.  It is called being "out of temper".  If you hear the term "lose your temper" it actually started with chocolate making... getting too hot. 

 Some tips:

There are many different kinds of chocolate.

Couveture:  good quality chocolate.  This is the good stuff.  My favorite is Guitard.  By far.   No other fats/waxes are added besides cocoa butter.  Most require a tempering process where it is heated, then cooled while spreading thin and working to help the cocoa butter stay well dispersed within the chocolate.  Cocoa butter can be purchased "micro-dried"  and that stuff will help in the process.   My mom gave me a big can of it for Christmas last year, ahhh the perfect gift for a pastry chef.  Who would have thought of that?  This product  gives the cocoa butter a "seed" to hold onto within the chocolate instead of floating to the top of the melted chocolate.

Cocoa:  dry powder that remains after cocoa butter is removed.  Dutched cocoa is processed with an alkali, has a smoother flavor, and dissolves better than other cocoa.

Bitter chocolate:  straight chocolate liquor.

Sweet Chocolate:  as little as 15% liquor, no milk solids (not milk chocolate)

Milk Chocolate:  Sweet chocolate with milk solids added, used as a coating on confections.

Less expensive chocolate has part of he cocoa butter replaced with other fats.  They don't require tempering but don't have the same eating quality of chocolate.  Choose your audience...and your budget.  With chocolate chips it may be a good idea to add some of the "coating", but maybe only one square that way it will keep from losing it's temper, but not have a waxy aftertaste--this also depends on the coating as some like "Wilton" don't have a strong wax-i-ness, while the candy quick is pretty stiff--but good for chocolate sculptures here in the heat.  Those are my thoughts.  I like the white coating for pretzels for kids parties and for putting in a bag an making decorations squeezed out on waxed paper to top cupcakes.  It doesn't melt very quickly and in Arizona we do have to modify things sometimes because of the heat.  If however it was for a client, it would be real chocolate.  A lot of them are very particular about that.  I am always happy to use the real stuff.   So for working with the regular chocolate, here are some important tips: 

Watch the temperature.

Critical temperatures:

Milk Chocolate/White Chocolate : never heat over 122 degrees and keep it lower if possible, I try to keep it right around 86.

Dark Chocolate:  never heat over 131 degrees.  I keep it at 89. If one section gets too hot and it's mixed into the cooler chocolate you may run the risk of the chocolate separating. It will depend but don't risk it. I start new batches when in doubt.

Melt it slowly  in granny's double boiler. Okay. If you don't have granny's double boiler, then you can use a metal bowl over a pan. Just be very, very, very good at stirring often and watching your temperatures. Don't crank up the heat. Slow over time is better.

The best way to  melt chocolate is in a double boiler over a simmering water, not boiling.  Stir constantly, and check the temperature often.  Keep the room were you are working with chocolate pretty cool... between 65 and 77 degrees. Oh, and don't eat it all before you coat things with it.  That is a big one. 

No Water. Never allow chocolate to have water or moisture of any kind come in contact with it. The chocolate will "seize" and no longer be able to be used as dipping chocolate.

How do you get pretty chocolates?

 When dipping, use a fork or Chocolate dipping prong. This will allow excess chocolate to drizzle off the product and give you clean pretty chocolates instead of ones "with feet:. 

A few years ago my friend Jerri sent me this recipe. It has found a home for the Holidays with us every year since. 

 Jerri's Recipe for Coconut Bon Bon  "Almond Joy"

Ingredients
* 3/4 cup Karo syrup (I use 3/4 cup honey)
* 2 1/2 cups dry macaroon coconut ( I get mine at Honeyville in a 5 lb bag)
* 1/2-1 teaspoon almond extract (depends on how strong an almond flavor you wish)
* almonds (if you want the almond joy type)
* 10 ounces chocolate Couveture 
Directions
1. Toast the almonds in the oven at 400F just till they are warm and you can start to smell them (3-5 min); set aside.
2. Bring the Karo or honey to a boil and add the coconut, remove from heat and add extract. 

3. Place in fridge till firm.
4. Form into round balls or ovals and place on waxed paper -- press 1 almond to each ball or 2 to each oval and chill for 1/2 hour. It helps to moisten your hands a little when making the balls.  I didn't use the almonds this time. I just rounded into balls. I would not suggest putting them in the freezer.
When I put mine in the freezer they came out like this...

Dang freezer elves. I really need to increase their freezer survival rations.  They make snow men...They've also been eating the frozen cookie dough. {I swear it was the elves...}

When you put them in the fridge they come out like this.

5. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Watch your temperatures (I never go over 89 degrees). It helps to put your face really close to the pot. It will get chocolate up your nose and increase your popularity. Okay. I lied. You won't be popular with brown stuff on your nose.

6. Dip each candy-dandy-licious center into the chocolate; coat evenly and completely. Place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet until chocolate is set.

I highly recommend taking them to the window and letting them see some sunlight. 

Allow to cool at room temperature. This helps the chocolate not to separate. 

Place in candy liners. 

7. Store in a airtight container. Hide container from the elves.

There you go. Tomorrow I will be spending a few hours with Evil Tara in the  ETT (Evil Think Tank). Be afraid. Galactic destruction and general chocolate chaos are sure to ensue! Until then, dip something. I want to hear all about your chocolate adventures! Xoxo! Smooooches!

Always My Very Best,

Your Friend Chef Tess

Homemade Banana's Foster Peanut Brittle de Chef Tess

It's food storage Monday.  Remember that tomorrow morning I'm teaching a freezer dessert and breakfast cinnamon roll and sticky buns class! I call the class "My rolls are cool!"  It will be freezer to oven rolls that you can make ahead of time for the holidays. Class starts at 10 AM at the Honeyville Farms store in Chandler. 

It's also December and here we are on the cusp of the ultimate month of goodies!  Consequently...You will either love me or hate me by the end of this week. I've decided to share candy recipes. I'm voting you'll love me by the end of the week though. As for today. Ace loves peanut brittle. It may be his favorite candy next to My Homemade Toffee. However this isn't my standard peanut brittle recipe. It's freakin' tricked out.  Here's why. My friend Michelle  was looking at a can of Dehydrated Banana Chips the other day at the store. 

She's so dang cute. Her question to me was, "What do you do with them in food storage besides trail mix?" In all honesty it was a classic example of stump the chef. My brain went totally blank ( I know you're shocked to hear that. Bwhahah). I had used them as a garnish for banana cakes in the past, since they didn't go brown on the top of the cake. However, in all honesty, that was as far as they ever went. So...I took some home and decided I needed to play. After all. Monday is always food storage day. To be honest, I cook with food storage every day. It's part of my wholesome upbringing. I'm trying not to be so obsessive about sharing it all the time though. I have to admit, that I'm helping write a cookbook on the subject so it is on the forefront of my giant brain.  I think food storage should look like this... 

Oh...and of course after the banana conversation with Michelle, I couldn't stop singing the banana song.  Ace showed me this Banana song on a ding-a-dang Sesame Street "Sing Yourself Silly" Song video back in 1995 on one of our first dates. How's that for being romanced ladies? {Insert eye brow raise.} Sesame Street on a date. That's right up there with taking me to a Day Care to see if I'm good with kids, right? Crank up the music with the Merengue beat! Boom-chicka-waa-waaa! Everybody sing! One banana...two banana...(You know you want to!). Putting on my frilly polk-a-dot apron and dancing through the kitchen flailing my arms in a very unflattering manner. Just a minute.You better do it with me.

In all honesty. If you don't play that song during the whole time you make this brittle...it won't turn out as good as it could have been. That may or may not be totally true. All I know is this turned out really beautiful. 

This is a play off  the actual  original flavors of Bananas Foster. If you've never had it, it's a banana dessert that started  at Brennan's Restaurant in 1951. That dessert got it's name from Chef  Paul who created the  dessert for Richard Foster, who served with the founder of the restaurant (Owen Edward Brennan) on the New Orleans Crime Commission. Richard Foster was a very good friend of Owen. It wouldn't be the first time in history a dish was named after a person. Shall we just call the brittle " Bananas Tessalicious"? It's got just the right amount of peanut, crisp banana chips, and crunchy sweet lightly spiced rum candy to almost make you pass out. I'm only saying this so you know that you may need to plan ahead to give it away. {Hint. Hint. I'm almost totally out of brittle...} I for one had to hide it in a closet and lock myself in a different closet...just to avoid the temptation. Evil. Evil. Evil. That's all I can say. Shall I share the recipe then?

I think so.

Banana's Foster Peanut Brittle De Chef Tess

1/2 cup salted peanuts

1 cup  Dehydrated Banana Chips

1/2 cup honey

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 T butter

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp rum extract

1/4 tsp Chef Tess Wise Woman of the East spice blend (or Saigon cinnamon will work)

Step One. Stop eating the peanuts.
Step 2. Put peanuts in a nice dish and take a picture. Hey...I think you may want directions on how to make the brittle huh? Geesh. What am I thinking?!

Step 3 errr...One. Lightly oil a jelly-roll pan (AKA a cookie sheet with edges so hot molten candy doesn't flow all over your kitchen counters). Spread the banana chips and peanuts onto the bottom of the pan. Pause and survey the scenery. Bask in the banana glow. Try not to get totally caught up in Chef Tess' insane world. (Too late...)

Lightly oil a heat proof spatula and set it aside.  Take a picture of it...um...wait. You can skip that step. The picture step, not the oiling step. I oil the spat. The candy won't stick to it. It's a genius step. Do it. Be a genius. 

Now. I need to just give you directions. I can't count much higher. Really I can count higher but I don't want to confuse myself any further than necessary...Dang I'm typing small. Why are you reading the fine print? 


 In a 2-quart kettle or large saucepan, mix together sugar, honey and  and water. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Insert candy thermometer if using, making certain it does not touch the bottom of the pan. Bring mixture to a boil, without stirring. No stirring. I did maybe once, but that was it...and it was just at the beginning. NO stirring after that. Don't do it. You'll get really gritty grainy candy.

Clamp your candy thermometer onto the side of the pan, into the syrup but not touching the bottom of the pan. You want to read the syrup temperature, not the pan temperature, right?

Early in the cooking process, you can "wash down" any sugar crystals that form on the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush. I use a silicone brush so I don't get any loose hair in there too.

Remove from heat precisely at 295° F (temperature will continue rising), or until drops of syrup form hard, brittle threads in cold water. After boiling action has ceased add butter. It will steam. Stir a few seconds until it's melted. Now add the Rum flavor, spice blend and baking soda. It will bubble up!  Stir it to mix in the soda. Don't stir too much because you want all that bubble action.  USE CAUTION WHEN ADDING FLAVORING TO AVOID RISING STEAM. Pour mixture over the bananas and peanuts in the oiled molten-roll-over proof pan. Allow to cool 20-25 minutes. 

I score it with a sharp knife after about 5 minutes so that it will break in clean cuts. You don't have to do that if you prefer a more jagged brittle. 

The squares look really nice though. Don't you think so?

There you go! Make some magnificent peanut brittle! I'm looking forward to some cool candy making this week as well! You won't want to miss it! Get today's recipe printer friendly Here

Xoxo!
Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Homemade Strawberry Almond Milkshake Fudge Mix and Peanut Butter Fudge Mix and New Packaging Ideas

Monday I try to share Food Storage recipes, but especially during the Christmas holiday season when things tend to get a little tight around people's budgets...I try to share real ideas that work for great gifts. In fact, it's gift week here on the blog. Tomorrow I have a Holiday gift mix class at Honeyville Farms. Friday I have a neighbor gift making segment on Fox 10. Saturday I have a Holiday Bold Better Bread Class at Honeyville again. Midnight that night 

Big Gift Week Giveaway with Cherie Call Albums, Chef Tess E-books and Holiday Mixes will end. Pop on over to that post and find out how to win some great stuff!

 Somewhere in-between...I hope to post all the amazing new recipes I've been working on. In fact, I have so many new recipes it's almost scary. ...*Almost*... 

I'm happy to share some great recipes and ideas to help make your holiday bright! 

So. Let's start with the fudge!

 One of my favorite ways to package the prepared fudge to give away is to wrap it in natural wax paper and either tuck in the edges or twist them like a giant candy bar.

Individual pieces of the fudge look super-dang adorable wrapped in a twist of natural wax paper like this.

 Also they're 'uper-deee-doooper cutsie in a mason jar with some funky ribbon.

So...here's my original recipe for the creamy divine Strawberry Almond Milkshake Fudge mix.

 Chef Tess Magic Strawberry Almond Milkshake Fudge 
2 lb powdered sugar (about 7 cups)
1 cup Powdered butter
3 cups Honeyville Strawberry Milk Powder (2 1/2 cup instant milk powder and 1/2 cup strawberry milk flavoring like Nestle if you don't have the Strawberry milk powder)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Mix-a-Meal Almond Flavoring Powder (or you can use 2 tsp almond extract but it's not as good for mixes as the powder)
Mix directions:
Combine all ingredients until well blended. Place in a gallon size freezer bag. I store the bags in the fridge or freezer. Great gift for the holidays! When the holiday get closer, I simply slip the mix into a fabric bag with the directions to mix on a cute tag. Give it away not just
for the winter holidays, but for Mother's Day. Father's Day. Tuesday.
To prepare:
Put mix in a microwave safe bowl with 3/4 cup water and heat about 2 minutes stirring well. Heat one more minute. In the meantime line an 8 inch by 8 inch cake pan with foil then spray the foil with nonstick coating. Pour the melted mix into the foil lined pan and top with nuts or dried fruit if desired. Leave pan out to cool 3-4 hours or overnight. Remove from the pan, and take off the foil. Cut into 1 inch
squares, yield 4 dozen love bombs. about 4 lbs of Strawberry Fudge.
To make into 4 mixes, simply divide the mix into 4. This will yield about 2 1/2 cups per mix. Cooking directions will be use 2T water and a small mini loaf pan instead of the 8 inch by 8 inch pan. (I'm including the printable label pdf.)


 Now for the Peanut Butter Fudge Mix!

  Chef Tess Peanut Butter Fudge Mix
8 cups powdered sugar
1 cup Powdered butter
3 cups Peanut Butter Powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Mix-a-Meal Vanilla Powder
Mix directions:
Combine all ingredients until well blended. Place in a gallon size freezer bag. I store the bags in the fridge or freezer. Great gift for the holidays! When the holiday get closer, I simply slip the mix into a fabric bag with the directions to mix on a cute tag. Give it away not just
for the winter holidays, but for Mother's Day. Father's Day. Tuesday.
To prepare:
Put mix in a microwave safe bowl with 3/4 cup water and heat about 2 minutes stirring well. Heat one more minute. In the meantime line an 8 inch by 8 inch cake pan with foil then spray the foil with nonstick coating. Pour the melted mix into the foil lined pan and top with nuts or dried fruit if desired. Leave pan out to cool 3-4 hours or overnight. Remove from the pan, and take off the foil. Cut into 1 inch
squares, yield 4 dozen love bombs. about 4 lbs of Peanut Butter Fudge.
  To make into 4 mixes, simply divide the mix into 4. This will yield about 3 cups per mix. Cooking directions will be use 2T water and a small mini loaf pan instead of the 8 inch by 8 inch pan. (I'm including the printable label pdf.)

I used my giant creative mind and came up with this fun way to package the mixes this year.

 Just using a square of card-stock style "scrapbook paper" I wrapped around the Ziploc baggie of mix. I attached the mixing directions to the colorful tube.

 Simply taped with clear package tape and stapled the ends.

These are super cute with any vintage wrapping, but I love that the cardstock will hold up almost like a box.

Slip into a wine bag and it's just freakin' cute! Cost per mix, about 75cents. Give or take. They don't look that cheap now do they?!!

So there you go. A couple new fudge mix recipes!
Get the printable labels for the smaller batches of fudge (they will work with all 3 different varieties of my fudge) and my original dark chocolate fudge mix recipe Here.
Enjoy!
Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess