Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Fudge

The best part about having a hubby who has a ton of co-workers is I know I can create or try a new recipe, take one serving and send the rest to work so there's no temptation for us.  Believe me when I tell you that there would be a lot of temptation if this fudge was in the house!  I was craving that sweet and salty combo and I wondered if I could make a good fudge out of the things I had on my baking shelf.  I decided on trying to make a dark chocolate peanut butter fudge with pretzels.  Yeah.  I grabbed my bag of Hershey's Dark Chocolate Chips, my can of Borden Eagle fat free sweetened condensed milk, Reese's Peanut Butter Chips and a small bag of pretzels.

From experience I knew this fudge begins to set in seconds so I measured out 1/2 cup of the peanut butter chips and 3 ounces of pretzels.  I crushed them in a baggie so they were in pieces.


I put the dark chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and added the milk.  You don't scrape the milk out of the can, you pour until the stream gets really thin, leaving about an ounce or slightly more clinging to the sides of the can.


Put the ambrosia in the making in the microwave for 2 minutes.  While that's heating up, I cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of an 8x8 glass pan and gave a quick, barely there spray of cooking spray.





When it comes out of the microwave, it needs to be thoroughly combined until it looks like this:


Yeah, try not to lick the screen.  This is where it sets up SUPER fast so you have to make quick work of it.  Matter of fact, I couldn't even take pics it was such a mad dash.  I added half the fudge to the pan and spread it corner to corner.  Then I sprinkled the peanut butter chips down first so they could begin warming from the heat of the fudge and then I sprinkled 2/3 of the pretzel pieces edge to edge.  I grabbed the rest of the fudge and saw it was almost set.  I freaked out and put it on the middle and began thinking I'd need to file this under "kitchen disasters."  I got the rubber spatula and began working the fudge.  The heat from the peanut butter chips which were now almost melted so it helped to loosen up the fudge.  Thankfully after a minute or two I was able to get it worked to the corners and put the pretzel pieces on top.


I covered it in foil and put it in the fridge to set up.  I couldn't wait to give it a try to see if it was as good as I'd imagine it would be.  About 2-3 hours later, I grabbed it and it was all set up.  I grabbed my cutting board and flipped it out on top.


I peeled back the parchment paper and flipped it back over.


I cut it up into 6 strips and then cut each strip into 6 pieces so I'd get an even 36 pieces.  When the Mr and I tried them, we both LOVED it.  I wish the pretzels were slightly more crunchy on top but they are in the middle.  You know how pretzels can get when exposed to a bit of moisture.  (Slight condensation from the foil)  But the co-workers spoke and within 2 hours, they were gone and the Mr was fielding compliments for me left and right.  So I'd consider those a success despite near disaster!


The deep, rich taste of dark chocolate, a thin, tasty ribbon of peanut butter and crunchy pretzels throughout...this fudge was mouthwatering and as fudge goes, relatively easy!

Nutritional Info* (per serving)
36 servings per recipe
108 calories, Total Fat 4g, Sat Fat 3g, Sodium 60mg, Total Carbs 17g, Fiber 1g, Sugars 13g, Protein 2g

* Nutritional info will be different if you use ingredients other than listed.

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13 comments:

  1. Now theres a lethal combo for me; I guarantee that would have never left my house!! Heck, it probably wouldn't even have left the kitchen counter!! Beautiful photo, that was enough of a fix for me!

    WISLNDR

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  2. I might try my own variety of this this weekend. Not with Hershey's chocolate - I can't stand the stuff. I think it has to do with growing up 45 minutes away from where the chocolate's made and going to the theme park way too many times. :-)

    Clearly, I wouldn't use the peanut butter, but butterscotch chips might be nice. I don't know what I would do instead of the pretzels though.

    Oh! When I was younger, my favorite snack were haystacks. Super easy: melt butterscotch (or whatever kind you want) chips in the microwave and then stir in Chinese noodles (the crunch ones that look like little twigs that you put in soup or salad) and then pop them in the freezer.

    They look like little haystacks (hence the name) and are a quick treat. They are quite hard though, so I usually let them thaw a bit before biting into them.

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  3. That looks amazing! I will definitely give it a try, thanks!

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  4. Look great, but I won't make these unless I know they are going right out my door to someone else. I know I would eat too many! Great job on the photography!

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  5. These look wonderful. I think I'm going to print out the recipe but save it for when I need to bring something with me to an event so that I can get them out of the house also. :-)

    I wish I had the baking creativity you have. I'm fine with cooking, but baking always makes me too nervous.

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  6. I think my husband would love this fudge. I know I would. I like the ease of making it too. My kind of recipe. My kids would probably like it if I could get them to try it. They hate trying anything new.

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  7. I get such weird looks when I tell people I don't like chocolate. I have even been told I'm not a girl and I'm unamerican because of this. lol I'm glad you hit a winner that you loved, though!

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  8. These look heavenly!

    Maybe I'll make some for Christmas this year.

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  9. Ohhh, I think I drooled on my keyboard. Bad idea reading this and looking at the pictures when I'm a little hungry already! Everyone at my work is always 'dieting,' so I can't bring in extra here (plus I'd probably scarf it all down, LOL!). Maybe I'll make some to take to a meeting I have tomorrow--sounds soooo good, and it just so happens I have most of the ingredients already.

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  10. Gonna hafta try this. Looks sooooo yummy. Saw the haystack comment above...we do those too, but a little differently...equal parts chocolate and butterscotch chips, chinese crispy noodles and cashews...wouldn't be Christmas without them :).

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  11. Wow. Just. Wow. And hey - don't yell at me for licking the screen! It helps it keep clean! ;-)

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  12. good thing I am not at home or I might grab my chocolate chips and make this right now

    WOW

    With your permission I would like to share this with my Epicure customers - great use of our dark chocolate chips

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