I can make food stuffs, too

Tis winter (though you'd never know by stepping outside. Seriously, coastal Carolina, the entire month of November was freezing but December is beach weather?) so that means I venture into the kitchen and attempt... things.

First I made the Fudge Kit I bought at work. It was okay on the first day and super yummy on day three. It was also really easy to make, so if you come across the Carnation Famous Fudge kit, it's probably worth the money if you don't want a ton of fudge, you don't want to spend a fortune, and you can wait at least 24 hours before biting into anything beyond maybe one piece. It also comes with the pan (cardboard but that just means you don't have to worry about retrieving it at the end of the day/night) so for $4.99? Definitely worth the price. (It was on sale.)


That prompted me to make my absolute favorite fudge recipe. It's the Fantasy Fudge recipe that used to be on the back of the Kraft Marshmallow Creme jar but then they tweaked it, so... make at your own risk?

However, the Internet is our friend.
( Recipe under the cut. )

Sometime in middle school I realized a few things about fudge. One, it's delicious. I remember sneaking downstairs to the fridge and snitching some from the pan Mom would make for Dad every year.
Two, Mom hated to make it. She told me so herself when I begged her to make a second batch one year.
Three, I make a damn fine fudge if I don't make it when it's too hot/humid here. I think it was decided that since I liked making it, loved eating it, and could handle the stirring, I would be the maker of the fudge.

I've tried a variety of recipes over the years and this is the best one I've tried. It's stupidly simple and endlessly adaptable. If you can focus on one task for fifteen minutes or so, you can make this. The hardest part is mixing the marshmallow into the chocolate mixture, and that's only because you've just spent the last six minutes stirring the mixture from one stage to another. Yet every year I forget that it's not that much of a pain to make and by the time it's fudge making time again, I've built it up to this horrible task. I'm going to guess one of the past recipes really was hard to make or I've gotten better at focusing on the task at hand.

That said, I make it on the stove so I can't comment on the microwave instructions.

The boy handed over a piece of fudge that he proclaimed the family fudge and I was asleep, so I put it by the bed and went back to bed. Ate it this morning. Yeah. Mine is tastier.

And on a less sugary note, I tried my hand at the "totally Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit Knock-Off Recipe!" from the Top Secret Recipe 2 book. (I'm too lazy to look up the actual name of the book.)

It's been so long since I had the real thing that I have no frame of reference for how well they stack up, but Mums made some Saturday. They were pretty yummy (the second batch moreso than the first due to a timing issue) but didn't taste all that much like the Real Thing. Mine were even tastier, which is funny since baking is my kryptonite. (I get so bored and easily distracted.) I'm not sure how close they are to the real ones, but good lord, I just want to eat all 12. SO GOOD.

( Mmm. Cheese. )

So yummy. And they're the perfect thing to eat while reading about crazy Margo trying to kill the Wakefields. Woo!