Candy Bar Fudge

For the past 4 years I have joined forces with Electra to bake a wide variety of holiday cookies and treats for friends and family.  This year we baked a record 2,600 cookies!  Last year we made 2,100.  This year we also made the most variety of treats; we made 12 different kinds (13 if you include the two different types of rum balls).  We also filmed a time lapse this year!  We took pictures every 4 seconds for all 4 days of baking madness.  We will post the video as soon as it is finished, with more detail of the baking extravaganza as well as a few more recipes.

One of our very favorite treats to make is Candy Bar Fudge.  We made the fudge for the first time three years ago and it was an instant hit.  My Grandpa Steve made sure to let me know these were his favorite.  Since they were such a big hit we’ve made them every year.  This year we tripled the recipe to yield 140 pieces of fudge.  Also, we experimented with using a double boiler instead of the microwave.  The double boiler is more reliable but when you are making big/multiple batches, the microwave is a little easier.

Candy Bar Fudge

We tripled the recipe!

• ½ cup butter
• ⅓ cup cocoa powder
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• ¼ cup milk
• 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 40 individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped
• 1 ½ Tablespoons water
• 2 cups salted peanuts
• ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ¾ cup milk chocolate chocolate chips

Grease an 8×8 baking pan. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine butter, cocoa powder, brown sugar, and milk. Microwave until mixture boils. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Pour into prepared pan.

Bottom Layer: Fudge

In another microwave-safe bowl, microwave caramels and water until caramels melt. Stir in peanuts and spread over chocolate fudge layer.

Caramel Peanut Layer

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips. Spread over the caramel layer. Cover with aluminum foil and chill for at least 2 hours or until firm.

Chocolate layer

Makes 4 dozen.

Cross section!