Dark Chocolate Magic French Fudge

Some of you may have had grandmothers who simply cooked. Didn't matter if it was only a Sunday, not a holiday, just Sunday... they would produce a spread that would cover the kitchen table. Yeah, I remember those days and fondly dream of them from time to time. It was a special memory a lucky few of us have. Now a days there never seems to be enough time to get the family in one room for more than five minutes.

My own mother, God help her, is pretty scary in the kitchen. I think the cooking gene skipped her generation. Although she had held all the family recipes, it's not often when she can master one. So when she finally decided to go digital with them, I was lucky enough to get my hot little hands on one of the cherished books. Below is a simple recipe for fudge. Of course I had to tweak it a bit, but it came out fabulous! Even those out there who is terrified of being in the kitchen can figure this one out!

18oz Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips (I used Dark Chocolate Chips)
1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (I used generic, sorry grandma)
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
Pinch of Salt
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper (This is my own flavor that works well with dark chocolate)
1/2 cup Chopped Nuts (I used walnuts)

1) In top of a double broiler (if you don't have one, stack 2 pots that sit evenly and add water in the lower pot), melt chocolate over hot water. Add milk, vanilla, salt, cayenne and nuts. Stir until smooth.

2) Turn into a waxed paper lined 8x8 square pan. Place in refrigerator for 3-4 hours to set. Cut into squares and store in an air tight container.

Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

As some of you know, I am allergic to many, many things. Potassium is among the long list... which means no bananas and no nuts. But one of my most treasured smells for a house to hold is homemade Banana Nut Bread. You can almost see the flavor tendrils weaving their way through every nook and cranny in the house.

My hunny also loves this smell and most definitely eating it. As you may remember, I posted a recipe last year featuring my bread with a nice homemade icing that was "TO-DIE-FOR"! I had some friends out here in the wild west try it out and felt the same way. It's one of those things I HAVE to make once or twice a year, regardless of the reactions I get.

This time around I made 2 loaves... one for him and one for me. Since nuts and bananas both have Potassium I chose to forgo the nuts and replace them with chocolate chunks. All I did was follow the original recipe (find it here) and instead of one loaf, I poured the batter into two loaf pans. On his, I added nuts and gently stirred them in. On mine I chopped up a chocolate bar (about 1 ounce) and gently stirred it in. The baked for the same amount of time in the old recipe for the small loaf.

Chocolate Chunks

Original