Tess's Tidbits: Making Reese's Fudge

Hi everyone!  I hope all of your Christmas preparations are going well!  Only 5 more days...yay!!! 

This year, I decided it would be fun to make something sweet for my friends for Christmas.  After some deliberation, I decided on Mama's old family recipe:  Reese's Fudge.  Then I thought it would be fun to share the recipe with all of you in case any of you want to try making Reese's Fudge yourselves.

So, here we go!  First, you need to get all of your ingredients together.  You'll need some powdered sugar, butter, graham crackers, peanut butter, and a bag of chocolate chips.  You'll also need a mixing bowl, a fork or spoon to stir with, a rubber spatula, and a 9x13 baking pan.

I started by crushing my graham crackers (they need to be crumbs for this recipe).  Put the graham crackers in a zip lock baggie and seal it.  Mama uses a rolling pin or her fist to crush them, but I decided to use my shoes (I would not recommend this method if you're a human).  :)  This was one of my favorite parts! 

After you have some nice crumbs, mix them in with the powdered sugar.  

Melt some butter in the microwave and add that to the mix.

Here's what it looks like when everything is mixed together:

Now you're going to add the peanut butter...you have to have peanut butter for a Reese's recipe! :)

This is what it should look like when you're done:

Once you've mixed your peanut butter, butter, graham cracker crumbs and powdered sugar all together, it's time to get out your baking pan.  I couldn't find any the right size, so I had to use one of Mama's (and her Reese's mix, too). :}  Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan.  Try and make it as even as you can on all the sides. 

Now it's time to melt the chocolate chips.  Pour a 12 oz bag of them into a pan on low heat.  Note:  Dolls and kids should get a big human's help for this part! 

Stir the chocolate frequently, otherwise you run the risk of scorching the chips on the bottom.  Then your Reese's will taste burnt.  Yuck!

Keep stirring until the chocolate is completely melted, like this:

Now pour the melted chocolate over the top of the peanut butter mixture.

Use a rubber spatula to spread the chocolate evenly over the peanut butter...don't press down too hard or you'll end up with little bits of peanut butter in your chocolate!  Then it's not as pretty.

Now for my favorite part...licking the spatula!! Yumm! :)

Once you're done spreading (and finishing off the leftover chocolate) ;), put some cling wrap over the top of the Reese's. 

Put the baking pan in the fridge to let the chocolate cool and harden.  It should stay in the fridge for about 30-45 minutes.  No longer than that, or it will be too hard to cut!

After the 30 minutes or so, take the Reese's fudge back out and cut it into squares.  This is another part where dolls and kids should have big human supervision.  Mama let me use the knife, but she was right there in case I needed help.

Now it's ready!  If you want, you can put it back in the fridge for a while to have a nice hard square of Reese's Fudge.  If you like your fudge soft and melty, eat it right away! :)

If you're going to give it away for Christmas, it's fun to find a pretty Christmasy paper plate or tin to put them in.  I found this adorable tin and thought it would be just perfect!

I really hope my friends enjoy their Christmas fudge! 

Tess's Reese's Fudge

     Mix together: 

                 -1 (1 lb) box of powdered sugar

                 -1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

                           (put 6-7 graham crackers in a zip lock bag, seal it, and roll over the bag with a

                            rolling pin until the crackers are crushed into small crumbs)

                 -1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)

                 -1 1/2 cups peanut butter

    Press evenly into the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan

    Melt 1 12 oz bag of chocolate chips and spread evenly over the top of the mixture

   Let harden in fridge; cut into squares