Christmas Peanut Butter Fudge

With the Christmas Season hard upon us, I decided this year to make a little fudge for around the house. Growing up, my grandmother always had old coffee cans (decorated with felt and Christmas themes) full of fudge, cookies, buckeyes and candies. I found a recipe in my old handy-dandy Better Homes & Gardens cookbook and set to work.

Ingredients: Sugar, peanut butter (chunky if you want the fudge nutty), marshmallow creme, butter and evaporated milk.

Not surprisingly, there are massive amounts of sugar in this recipe. And you start with 4 cups of sugar, a cup of butter and a can of evaporated milk in a buttered saucepan. Heat on medium (I stir most of the time because that's what I saw my grandmother doing).

Here's the tricky part: The syrupy mixture needs to be heated until it reaches 234 degrees (no more than 240). That's right, 234. Not 233 or 232. 234. This is called 'softball stage' and I think I figured out how to do it without the thermometer but I wasn't willing to risk ruining $47 dollars worth of sugar to find out. Once it is 234, you remove from heat and mix in the peanut butter and marshmallow creme. It's really quite easy if you have $47 worth of sugar and a candy thermometer.

When all ingredients have finally been mixed thoroughly, pour the fudge into a buttered 13 x 9 baking dish. I sprinkled some chopped nuts on top and pressed them in slightly for a nutty top. You could add nuts to the fudge itself but I had just gone ahead and used crunchy peanut butter and that did the trick.

Cool completely, then cut. I used a sharp knife dipped in water for a cleaner cut. I also took some of the fudge, balled-it-up, dipped it melted chocolate for a crude but effective buckeye. Lay neatly inside of a tin on top of wax paper, add a bow to the top and you are ready to serve.


I can't eat any of it but it smells delightful and the boys are sucking them down. Merry Christmas!

Iron Chef Woodland Hills - Rhodes vs. Rhodes

(Above) Creamy Twice-Baked Potato from Jack

(Below) Two-Cheese Freedom Fries from son William.

The winner: Son William. [Notice Dora the Explorer in the background]

It was too hot to go outside and we were bored from watching TV. Solution: Iron Chef Woodland Hills. Rhodes boy #1 versus Rhodes boy #2 in "Battle Potato". Each son had thirty minutes to create one dish based upon today's secret ingredient, the Russet potato.

Jack and sous-chef Dad busted out with a Creamy Twice Baked Potato. William and sous-chef Jordan answered back with a batch of Two-Cheese Freedom fries.

The judging was based upon taste... presentation... and use of the secret ingredient. Once tallied, the scores were close, but the win went to Son #1 and his cheesy french fry. Which goes to show you that when you fry something and add cheese to it, you're always going to be in the game! Nice work team...