Well, it’s Friday, and the Big Day is over.
You might have noticed that I didn’t really write a lot about Christmas, other than fact that the religion I belong to doesn’t do that holiday. Nope, I don’t have a tree. But I love baking for others during the holiday season even more. It’s such a great time for cookies and cheer!
Day Three! Day Three! Fudge Week is drawing to a close. I hope you’ve had as much fun as I have. It’s been quite an honor to pair up with Gayle. Check out her fudge recipe today!
This final offering is made with white chocolate (yep, I’ve done milk and dark already this week) and it’s soft and perfectly fudgy. To be honest, I wanted to use Chanukah colors for this fudge, but guess what? Oreo doesn’t make a Chanukah variety, and Nestle doesn’t do blue chips. I had to keep the colors to Christmas. That’s okay!
Okay, kids. Day Two of Fudge Week! Be sure to check out my buddy Gayle’s fudge on Pumpkin n’ Spice! We’re being all coordinated and thematic here. And today she has a fantastic white chocolate peppermint fudge!
If you’ve been reading Gayle’s posts, she opted to make her fudge this week with three different kinds of milk. I love that, and because we might be baking soul mates, I had kind of a similar idea. Each of the fudge options you’re getting this week from me involves a different kind of chocolate.
I’m about to go on a little rant here. Y’all ready?
I have very strong feelings about food safety. A few years ago, Nestle released a batch of tainted cookie dough and a few people ate it raw. One woman died. And Nestle closed their plant to clean it and disinfect it, but the bottom line is, somebody made a huge mistake.
The same thing has happened with bags of salad mix. I mean, really. Tainted spinach? And peanut butter. How did salmonella get into peanut butter? And of course, eggs and raw meats are always an issue.
I have to love my office the day after Halloween. Teacher after teacher troops in and I watch as each one sighs and drops a bag of leftover candy on the table for people to share. “Gotta get rid of this,” they say, eyeing the candy with great misgiving, “or I’ll eat it all.”
I scoop up the Reese’s and Snickers and Twix and M & Ms, shove them in my desk drawer, and have snacks for the next few weeks. Believe me, I have no qualms about having candy around. It doesn’t bother me at all. Candy was meant to be eaten!
Remember when dessert used to be a simple affair? A brownie. A cookie. A piece of chocolate fudge, plain.
Well, folks, them days are over. And thank heaven they are, because dessert is being pushed farther than ever before, all because of food blogging. How can anyone possibly object? We’re baking as fast as genius food manufacturers are developing newer products.
Like Nestlé’s pumpkin spice-flavored morsels. I saw them at Target and bought 4 bags. I had to play with them! And the first recipe they yielded is this caramelized pecan and pumpkin spice fudge.
Do any of you feel like a trip to the grocery store is a vacation? Especially if you have kids and they’re not there?
You can wander up and down aisles, picking things up at leisure and putting them down. You can try free samples. You can hunt for new products. And if there’s a Starbucks in the store, you can do it all with a lovely hot cup of beverage.
Those evil geniuses over at Nabisco just won’t quit. What is up with that? Every five seconds they’re releasing a new flavor. Pumpkin Spice is debuting September 24th. I never knew a cookie could have a debut. Heck, I never had one.
But with strange marketing savvy born of years creating a totally addictive product, Nabisco is constantly entrapping me. Latest example: Caramel Apple Oreos. I had to give them a shot. How could I not? Caramel apples are one of my favorite fall treats!
Everyone else is happily beckoning in autumn, but not me. No way! Because it’s still 90 degrees out and I’m hanging out at all the frozen yogurt shops.
My obsession with fro yo is all in the toppings. You go fill your cup with lots of frozen goodness, but then you can dump whatever you want on top. I do that totally logical thing where I get a bucket full of fat-free yogurt and then proceed to pile on the chocolate. Lots of chocolate. And sometimes brownies or cheesecake, too. It’s like a make your own sundae party, any day of the week!
Welcome back to Beach Week on Just About Baked! I’m celebrating the best of boardwalk treats with my own twists!
Have I mentioned that I didn’t grow up anywhere near the water? The closest we came was a three-hour drive to Lake Michigan. It was really beautiful, but I’m more of an ocean beach girl. Something about those crashing waves really gets me every time.
Today is fudge day. One of my priority stops in any beach town is the candy shop, which is usually stocked with thick slabs of fudge in different flavors. They usually have great deals, too, because fudge doesn’t last too long and they need to sell it. It’s a win for everybody!
