fudge and shortbread. #9-13.

#9 fudge perfected.
1 stick of butter.
1 cup of mini marshmallows
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

mix together in a double boiler. or put one pot inside a bigger pot that is half way filled with water.
when all smooth.... add the chocolate chips! mix until all smooth and creamy!! you are done. I use
16 oz. jelly jars for storage. makes 4 16 oz jars.

#10 shortbread- gluten free.
2 sticks of butter.
1 cup of powdered sugar.
2 1/2 cups of gluten free flour/ I used bobs red mill all purpose gluten free flour.
1 egg.
1T of vanilla.

mix and crème the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla. then slowly mix in the flour. I ended up mixing by hand, and with my hands at the end.
spoon into a cupcake tin/with papers.
bake at 325 degrees. until the edges are brown. like above.
this makes a very flaky, light shortbread.

#11, #12 and #13 variations on the fudge recipe.

#11 white chocolate fudge
use white chocolate chips instead of the semi sweet chocolate. that's the only change.

#12 chocolate mint
use chocolate mint chips instead of the semi sweet chocolate. I used the winter variation that nestle's had during the holidays. I also used peppermint marshmallows. I don't think that made much of a difference.

#13 espresso caramel chip fudge
to the fudge recipe I added a large tablespoon of instant espresso coffee, and 8 oz of caramel chips.
the caramel didn't melt as fast as the chocolate so I left them in more as a chip than melted with the chocolate chips. super yummy!!

 how to plate the combination of recipes.

I plated with one shortbread round, 3 very fresh organic strawberries and a dollop of the fudge crème.

super yummy!

snow snow... #9, and #10.

snow snow oh beautiful snow. you turn our neighborhood into a winter wonderland! but sure make it difficult in the morning to get my son to school. need to start shoveling at 7am... in order to make it to school on time. yeh!! we did it.
since yesterday was such a busy out of the house day, carpool, stretch class, 45 minute drive to get an evaluation on my carpel tunnel... yes, I have it and yes, I need surgery. that will be interesting since I use my hand for everything... a bit of thrift store hunting, sign up for a new cell phone, then home. totally exhausted. 
I was able to make dinner but that is it. let's see it was 3 days from when I did all of that crazy ice removal on my driveway. this is how my fibromyalgia shows up. a few days later, in bouts of pain, exhaustion, depression and the feeling that I am the worst mom out there, can't do anything, and defeated. I know what I need is a super good nights sleep... and a very kind day to myself today.
so after dropping off my son to school, I decided to come home, no zumba. started to tidy up. cleaned the kitchen. organized my canning, and got on the computer. this is where I am now.
my thought for the day, since I have made so much lemon curd, it is time to create the perfect gluten free shortbread/tea cake recipe.
will report back in a bit...
oh nothing like cooking while watching Julie and Julia. one of my most favorite movies and my muse at the moment.
made up my first batch of gluten free shortbread. here the batch at the crumble up point. well, I just took them out of the oven... they smell divine!! can't wait to plate them up with lemon curd and berries! seems that I need to set up a tea party when spring is soon upon us. date tba. I will post my updated perfected fudge #9 and shortbread recipe #10 in the next few hours. until then, time to clean up.

enjoy # 9 and 10.