Holiday baking

Today I started making some Christmas goodies with the kids. We are planning on taking some of our treats over to a local nursing home IF we can stay healthy! With that in mind, I opted to make some treats that would be easy on dentures (no peanut brittle!).

Peanut Butter Cups

1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
4-5 squares chocolate bark

Combine peanut butter and powdered sugar. If the mixture is still a bit sticky, add a bit more powdered sugar, which we will be doing with the next batch. Roll into small balls.
You can either keep in balls and use a toothpick to dip the whole ball in the melted chocolate (follow directions on package) or put each ball in a SMALL paper baking cup (the kind you use for cupcakes, only small sized), press it down and pour some chocolate on top. That is the method we used. Next time, we won't press them down as much so the chocolate covers more of the peanut butter. We will also make smaller sized balls (although these seemed small to me) because Darin and I prefer a higher chocolate to peanut butter ratio. Put in the fridge to harden.
If you have extra chocolate, grab some pretzels, dip them in chocolate and put them on wax paper.

Microwave Fudge

2/3 cup (1 stick plus 3 Tbsp) butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
3 cups sugar
7 ounce marshmallow fluff
bag of semi sweet or peanut butter chips
1 tsp vanilla

Microwave butter for about 1 minute in a large bowl
Add evaporated milk and sugar. Mix well. Microwave for 3 minutes. Mix well to get all the sugar off the sides and bottom of bowl. Microwave 2 minutes. Mix. Microwave 3 minutes. Mix. Microwave 2 minutes. (The bowl and contents are going to be HOT!!!)

Add marshmallow fluff. Stir until completely incorporated. Add chips (chocolate or peanut butter) and vanilla. Stir and Stir and Stir.

Pour into a 9x13 pan (I put foil in mine so I can lift it out and cut even squares. We shall see if this is a help or a hindrance). Leave out on counter. After it has hardened, keep in an airtight container in the fridge. Can be frozen, but make sure if it well covered with wax paper, plastic, aluminum foil and in an airtight container.

If your fudge down not set, use as an ice cream topping. My mom had this happen one year and peanut butter fudge on ice cream is GOOD!

I am hoping to make chocolate fudge, more peanut butter cups (my first batch only made 9, of which one is left), chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal cranberry white chocolate chip cookies as well. Some we will eat, some will be for the Laurels and the rest for the neighbors.