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.

Monday’s choice, Smoky Salted Almond Fudge, had a dark chocolate base. Today’s fudge is made with milk chocolate. And Friday’s…well, you can probably guess, but wait and see anyway!

This fudge is made with my number one favorite Trader Joe’s product. It’s seasonal, so if you live near a TJs, you have to get there immediately, if not sooner. It’s called Jingle Jangle, and it’s magic. MAGIC.

Jingle Jangle is made up of the following: chocolate-covered pretzels (both milk and dark), mini peanut butter cups (both milk and dark), chocolate-covered popcorn, chocolate drops, and best of all, chocolate-dipped Joe Joes, which are their version of Oreos. Can we say irresistible? I thought not.

Well, I put all that goodness into a milk chocolate fudge base, and voila! The best fudge ever. It’s rich, and chunky, and creamy, and full of mix-ins. This is the Ben and Jerry’s of fudge, y’all.

I give fudge as holidays gifts every year, so I boxed it up all nice for my department. I also wrapped some fudge in cellophane bags and tied them with ribbon for individual gifts. I’m not crafty, but once a year, I can swing it!

This fudge is easy, quick and addictive. If you don’t have Jingle Jangle where you live, you can easily reconstruct the pieces with chocolate-covered pretzels, mini Reese’s, caramel corn, Oreo chunks and M & Ms. It’ll be similar. And either way, you won’t be able to stop eating it!

Enter my favorite quick recipe, so easy I hesitate to call it a recipe: bark!  Two ingredients, everyone. Get excited!

I love making bark and almost never buy it because really, why? You can customize flavors as you choose, and it’s pretty much the work of a couple of minutes, plus the 30 minutes of required chill time.

There are exceptions, of course. Trader Joe’s makes really good bark, so I love buying that. And Godiva’s chocolate almond bark is a good splurge. But other than that, I’ve been known to kind of huff and turn my nose up at store-bought bark, especially if it has no creative flavor action going on.

It’s with that thought in mind that I made this bark. Trader Joe’s makes a great holiday-edition caramel corn, totally addictive. Some of the popcorn is covered in chocolate, and there are a bunch of nuts in there, too. All kinds. It’s really my crack, if you must know. I buy it and tell myself I’ll only have a bit, and then yeah.

So of course, it made total sense to put a bunch of this addictive substance into bark. Why not? Just imagine Moose Munch in a bark, and that’s what we’re dealing with here. The Trader Joe’s version is pretty much the same thing, and it’s delicious.

This bark can be wrapped up and gifted to people, so think about it as a fantastic holiday season option! And if you can’t get to Trader Joe’s, any caramel corn and nut mixture will do. There’s never a need to buy bark when you can make it so quickly! Try it and enjoy.

That was my Memorial Day weekend. We had big plans. They involved a splash park and train rides and playgrounds and ice cream and picnics. Three days of fun, all planned out! No problem, right?

Except that my son spent a majority of the weekend on the couch moaning in agony with a stomach virus which I will no doubt be getting shortly, since I kept cuddling him and giving him tummy rubs. It was sunny and 85 degrees out, not a cloud in sight. And we were huddled in the darkened living room, taking occasional breaks from the moaning to watch episodes of Curious George.

I think I’ll just move Memorial Day to next weekend.

At least I had these blondie s’mores to keep me company. While my husband took the girls out and about, I sat in the kitchen and ate these up, pretending I was at a Memorial Day picnic. It really helped! And I’ve even done a step-by-step photo tutorial for you today. That’s what happens when I have the whole day to be stuck inside the house!

The inspiration began with these s’mores bites from Trader Joe’s. Have I mentioned how much I love that place?

I took these little cuties and cut them into thirds, like this:

Do you see how they have a cross-section of graham cracker and marshmallow, all covered in milk chocolate? Mmm. These are seriously one of my TJ favorites.

Then I made the batter. I love this recipe, mainly because it doesn’t  require a mixer. You just melt the butter in the microwave and mix everything in!

Once the batter is made, it’s time to party. I took about half of the batter, spread it in the pan, and lined up my s’mores candies just so. Can you see how caramelly the batter is? It’s so exciting!

After that was done, I took the other half of the batter and dropped it on top, spreading it out carefully.  There wasn’t quite enough to cover the surface area, but no problem! I just took some dollops of marshmallow fluff and swirled that in with the batter.

Then I chopped up the remaining s’mores chocolates, sprinkled on some graham cracker crumbs, and this baby was ready to go into the oven!

And when it came out, it looked like this:

Be sure not to overbake these bars! I like things a wee bit on the underbaked side, honestly, but if that’s not your thing, aim to get moist crumbs when you test the bars to see if they’re all done.

It was so hard to wait to cut this up. So I kind of didn’t wait long enough. It’s my biggest failing, really. But what else could I do?

And in the end, I wound up with ooey, gooey, chewy blondies. The marshmallow was all stretchy across the top, just like marshmallow should be. No campfire, but I’m cool with that. Fire is scary!

I do wish my son hadn’t gotten sick, of course. Kids always wait for holiday weekends to get sick. That way, you can’t go to the doctor. You have to head for the ER eventually, where all of humanity is lined up in the waiting room. Such is life.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a happy holiday weekend, free from emergency room visits and writhing in pain. Enjoy these s’mores! They make everything better, I promise!

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 container Trader Joe’s s’mores chocolates (pictured above)
• marshmallow fluff (a few spoonfuls, to taste)
• graham cracker crumbs (just enough to sprinkle over the top)

Instructions:

Peheat the oven to 350. Line an 8 x 8 pan with foil, leaving enough to overhang the sides, and coat in cooking spray.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Take a larger bowl and mix the brown sugar, melted butter, eggs and vanilla until just blended. Add the dry ingredients gradually and mix until incorporated.

Chop the s’mores chocolates into thirds, as shown above. Pour half of the blondie batter into the pan, being sure to spread it to hit the edges. Line the chocolates (see the picture) up evenly in the batter. Cover with the remaining batter and dollops of marshmallow fluff, swirling the batter and the fluff. Sprinkle with remaining chopped s’mores chocolates and graham cracker crumbs.

Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes until set. Test the middle with a toothpick or knife to ensure moist crumbs come out. Do not overbake.

Cool and cut into squares. Store in an airtight container.