This is a fudge recipe my mom found many years ago in a magazine. She had the original copy of it, cut from the pages of the magazine, in her recipe box for years. I have no idea what magazine it was found in, it must have been before I was born because I do not remember a Christmas when we didn't enjoy this fudge. Now, for my kids, it is the epitomy of what Christmas food is about. If there is no Florida Fudge, then Christmas just isn't right. The chocolate-peanut butter goodness of this fudge is better than a peanut butter cup, yet it is much easier to make. There is no candy thermometer involved. No dropping fudge into cold water to get it to soft ball stage. It is so simple and delicious that you are going to want to make it a Christmas staple at your house.
Before I give you the recipe, let me give you a few tips. .First of all, this recipe calls for "Heaping Tablespoons" of Cocoa and Peanut Butter. I feel like I don't see those kinds of measurements much any more. Everyone is much more precise in their cooking. Let me show you what "heaping" looks like.
The recipe asks you to cook and stir constantly the sugar, cocoa and milk (canned evaporated, not sweetened condensed) mixture until it reaches a rolling boil. That means that there will be big bubbles that don't disappear as you stir. Then, you turn off the heat and add the peanut butter. You will use your hand mixer to beat in the peanut butter until it holds its shape. Don't let it get super stiff or it will dry out and be hard to scoop out. It should look like this:
Now it is ready to drop onto waxed paper. You can pour it into a pan, but our traditional way is to drop it on waxed paper into nuggets of goodness. You can't argue with tradition. (Well, not in this case anyway.)
Here is the printable recipe!
I hope you give this recipe a try! You are going to love it. Santa would love those two little pieces of fudge on his plate on Christmas Eve. (He has left us notes and told us that he loves it!) Come back tomorrow for something just as delicious, but a little more savory!
25 Comments
As much as I love our DVD player and the ability to watch movies that I want to watch whenever I feel like it, I must say that a little bit of the excitement of the Christmas movie is missing for today's families. When I was young, we looked forward with eager anticipation to the one night of the year that "The Wizard of Oz" would be broadcast on TV. Kids talked about it at school the day before and the day after. It was the same with all of the Christmas movies. Now, you can watch them all year round, so it is kind of like, "meh". In any case, there are still some movies that must be watched during the holiday season or it just doesn't feel like Christmas! Watching them during the rest of the year is not quite as satisfying as it is to watch them with the tree twinkling in the background while eating popcorn and sipping a Hot Cocoa Bomb or Hot Orange Punch. So, here is our family's top 10 picks for the Christmas season!
This was one of those that got talked about in anticipation at school! Everyone loved learning that "Bumbles Bounce" and that there was a home for the misfit toys.
This has always been one of my personal favorites of the kid's classics. The songs are catchy ("Put One Foot In Front of the Other!") and who hasn't used the name "Burger Meister Meister Burger" for someone who is acting like a tyrant? (Well, now you really know how weird I am.)
Love! When Linus recites Luke 2, I melt every time. This one is so special to me, I have to watch it. I even made a little decoration about it here.
This is the Muppet Christmas movie that I love and it is very hard to find. I don't think very many people have actually seen it, but it is the best. When my children were little, I would play it for them on VHS, I had taped it myself. It made me get teary eyed because it was so sweet. It is also very funny! (duh, the Muppets!) I managed to round up this copy for sale on Amazon. When you hear Beaker sing, you will just die!
As you can see, we do appreciate the Muppets around here, and we really like their version of A Christmas Carol, (Except for that song, "The Love is Gone", we skip over that part). But, Michael Caine does a great job in it as Scrooge, working with Muppets. Funny and sweet all at the same time.
One of the few Will Ferrell movies that I like is "elf". It is funny and heart warming. Of course, Bob Newhart is in it, and he is always so great and Zooey Deeschanel has a beautiful voice. Lindsey introduced us to this movie when she was in college and we have enjoyed watching it over the holidays ever since then.
Sorry, but you can't beat the original with Natalie Wood and Maureen O'Hara. It is colorized now, when I was a kid we watched it in black and white, just like the next movie.
Can you believe that is the 60th anniversary edition? "It's a Wonderful Life" is a true classic that has stood the test of time because of its message and the acting talent. I have never seen a Jimmy Stewart movie that I didn't like. If you havn't ever seen this one, where have you been? Really. You have to watch it.
"White Christmas" may be a little cheesey and too musical for some people, but it is a tradition we just wouldn't miss. (My girl's and I anyway. It is too cheesey and musical for the men). I love so many of the songs: "Snow", "Sisters", "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" and of course, "White Christmas". (I have wanted my girls to perform "Sisters" together for the church talent show for years, but they refuse). The end with the tribute to the general always makes me tear up. His crooked smile reminds me of my dad.
I have talked about this movie before. We love this thing. I think my husband and I love it because it reminds us of what Christmas was like back when we were young. Also because it has so many quotable zingers! "You used up all of the glue on purpose!" "You'll shoot your eye out!", "I triple dog dare ya!", and many more that you just have to see the movie to get them. There is a station in Phoenix that usually plays this movie all day on Christmas Day, and we usually leave it playing just so we can walk through the room and hear bits and pieces of it all day, and we laugh everytime.
Not only do we have the movie, but we have theleg lamp cookie cutter, the leg lamp ornament, and the figurine of the leg lamp being buried. There are other figurines that depict the story as well, I may have to do some shopping myself!
There you have it! Our family's favorite Christmas movies. I think I may have missed some of them on TV already, so I guess it really is a good thing that I can pop them in the DVD player when ever I want to watch them. I hope you have some family fun with some of these yourselves! Let me know if I have left our some of your favorites.
PS, Madalynn made me add this one, one of her personal favorites, "The Mistletones". It is an ABC Family Christmas Movie, I couldn't find it on Amazon though. If you like cheesey, this will fit the bill.
Before I address what may sound like a weird title to this post, I want to share a bit about my weekend. It was the Ugly Sweater Express Weekend, and it was so much fun. A lot of prep work and time went into getting our Hot Cocoa Bombs ready, but it was well worth the time and energy spent. Our Bombs continue to be a hit with everyone who tries them and we met so many nice people. Here is a little slide show about some of our favorite things. I wish I had time to go into more detail.
There were so many more wonderful crafters and venders there. It is a fun annual event that we love taking part in, especially since it is hosted by family and so many family and friends take part in it. You can go to the Ugly Sweater Express Facebook wall to see more photos and information.
Now, on to today's post! I am going to tell you the story of one of our family's most loved traditions. (Especially mine!) I once mentioned it in this post from last Christmas. This is one of the traditions when you will want to be drinking the Hot Orange Punch that Lindsey blogged about yesterday. (Thanks Lindsey!)
The Beginning: I love Christmas Carols and music. So, when my husband and I started our little family, (which grew to be large), during the Christmas season, after our tree was up and decorated, we would turn all of the lights off except for the tree lights at night before going to bed and sit and sing Christmas Carols together. Does that sound cheesey? Maybe so, but it also felt warm and loving and reminded us of the reason we were celebrating. When we had just one little son, we did this and we each took turns picking a song. One night as we were getting our son ready for bed, he asked us, "Aren't we going to sing to the tree?" It made us chuckle that he thought that was what we were doing, but since that time, that is what we have called it, Singing to the Tree.
The Tradition: Now, we have been married for almost 37 years, and every Christmas Season, we gather around the tree and "sing to it" as often as we can. We don't do it every night. Sometimes things are too busy and not enough people are home at the same time. But, we do it at least 5 or 6 times throughout the month of December, especially on Sundays and for sure as part of our Christmas Eve tradition when everyone is here. Sitting and singing together costs nothing, yet the benefits of sitting together snuggled on the couch or laying on the carpet (this is a big reason why I kept carpet in our living room) are priceless. It is a great way to slow down a little and just spend time together and to reflect on the birth of the Savior through song. Of course, we also have some good rounds of "Rudolph" and "Jingle Bells", but we always end with a quiet, spiritual song about Christ and then have family prayer. We begin by letting the youngest child (or grandchild) pick the song first, and my husband, (the oldest, tee hee), picks last, ensuring a quite song to end on. (He has two favorites, "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" or "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear".) It Continues: You would think that with just my two youngest adult children at home with my husband and me, that we wouldn't worry too much about this tradition any more. But, just last night, the four of us went into the living room and sang together for the first time this season. We laughed and talked and everyone made fun of me because those moments always make me get teary eyed because I love them so much. I am a Hallmark Special on the inside. Anyone Can Do It!: You may think that the reason this tradition works for us is because we have done it our whole married life. Also, we have some pretty musically talented kids, so at this point, when we are all together, we are starting to sound like a choir. Yet, we have had company join us many times for our Singing to the Tree sessions, and they have all loved it whether they could sing or not. It is the feeling of family and fun that you are going after, not whether you sound like the Osmonds or something. When the kids were little, it was such a good way to settle them down for the evening. Sometimes we would first read a Christmas book and then go right into singing to the tree, then prayer. After that, they knew it was bedtime and there were no problems! (Especially after singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"!) If you don't think you know the words to many songs, you can always call them up on your phone and even play music to sing along with. We usually just sing acapella, or you can have someone play the piano. My daughter plays the piano, but then we would have had to turn on the lights for her to see the music, and we like to have them off in order to enjoy the lights on the tree. We also have some guitar players, so that could work for you, too. If you are looking for some special moments with your little ones, you might want to give this tradition a try. We have a few more fun traditions that we will be telling you about. Please be sure to share some of yours with us as well. We love to make the season bright. Don't forget #LIGHTtheWORLD! It is never too late to start.
Happy December 1st! The official start of the Advent. Today is the first day of #LIGHTtheWORLD. I am really trying to decide how I can lift another's burdens like the Savior did.
The other thing I am trying to do is to get all of the loose ends tied up to be ready for the Ugly Sweater Express, which is this Saturday! Today I thought I would show you some of the things we are doing with the Bombs and for those of you who are trying to make them on your own, Alicia designed a printable gift tag that also describes how to prepare the Cocoa Bomb! (Some people have tried to eat them like a Bon-Bon, and it is hard to believe that others still haven't heard of them!) You can order the molds to make your own Hot Cocoa Bombs here. I sent Alicia a Christmas themed mold from this link. It looks like this! So cute!
I have been decorating and packaging the different flavors of Hot Cocoa Bombs for the craft show and putting on my labels. Here is a slide show of some of them.
One of the things we do at the sale is offer bombs to drink there while people are shopping. I decided this year that we needed labels on our cups. I used the Avery website to design my lables and product tags. Their templates and available art make printing your own business items so easy. I also printed business cards. I couldn't decide between 2 color schemes for my cup labels, so I used both of them.
Which one do you like best?
We are also offering some gift sets, (perfect for teachers, co-workers and neighbors).
Inside the cute Christmas mug, there is a Hot Cocoa Bomb, an Owl Chocolate Stirring Stick and two Maple Owl Chocolates.
It looks pretty cute. We have the printable tag right here for you to print for your own gifts of Cocoa Bombs. Thanks to Melonheadz for the really cute cocoa mug clipart that we used!
If you are in Phoenix, be sure to come see us at the Ugly Sweater Express! We are looking forward to a great day! And if you are making your own Cocoa Bombs, email me or comment on here if you need any help. Most of all have fun doing it, and don't forget to #LIGHTtheWORLD!
|
Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
April 2024
|