Peanut Butter 'Fudge'

If you are looking for a last-minute Christmas gift to make, then this is a doddle.  It isn't realy fudge, but ends up as a fudgy treat.  You need to melt 8oz of unsalted butter and a cup (American measure, sorry) of smooth peanut butter in a pot or microwave.  Let the mix cook for a minute or two.  Stir in a teaspoon of vanilla essence and a pound of icing sugar.  It will go crumbly and stiff and difficult to beat.  This is normal!  Line a 20cm square tin with baking parchment and press the warm mixture evenly into the base.  Cover it with another sheet of parchment and this makes it easier to press down and 'squidge' - technical term there.  Allow to set and chill in the fridge for a good couple of hours or overnight.  Cut into small pieces - it is rich and sweet.  You can drizzle with melted chocolate too if liked.  Best eaten with a syringe of insulin by your side and a defibrillator.

Cinnamon Pear Cake with Vanilla Fudge Sauce [#252]

Now, safety alert: if you are on a diet, please look away now, as this posting will only make you cry.  For the rest of you, read this recipe, then go out, buy the ingredients, and make it.  Every now and then, we all need this, and it does feed a lot of people.  This is essentially a buttery sponge, with nuggets of buttery, caramelised cinnamony pear embedded in it, doused in a buttery fudge sauce.  Have you picked up on the fact there is a lot of butter in it?  Well, we just won't eat any of the stuff for the rest of the week, and indulge (almost) guiltlessly.  When I die, can you please ensure I am embalmed in this sauce?  And if I eat any more of it, that particular event may not be too far off.  Here is a link to the recipe, as cooked by the lovely blogger, Little Bird Eats.  It should come as no surprise that this recipe is from the marvellous Nigel Slater, and can also be found in his recently published 'Tender: Vol 2'.  You won't ever regret buying this, or the first volume.

Christmas cooking

Nothing to do with the Challenge, but this time of year is a flurry of activity in the kitchen (sorry to sound like Fanny Craddock). Whipped up a batch of Chocolate Pistachio Fudge http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/chocolatepistachiofu_87639.shtml for some pressies. Sceptical that it would work as there is no boiling involved - just melting chocolate, condensed milk butter and pistachios and setting in the fridge. Turned out well, and made a lovely gift packed in little bags for a girlie drinks get-together on Saturday, and it is credit-crunchtastic

Some tips if you make it:

• Line the tin with baking parchment - it makes it so easy to get the block of set fudge out afterwards


• Set a good hour aside to shell 300g of pistachios in order to get the 150 shelled weight - I then rubbed the nuts (!) in a towel to get rid of as much papery skin as possible


• Cut the fudge with a really sharp, long-bladed knife for a clean finish and lovely neat cubes. I have a huge global, about a foot long! It scares the bejaysus out of me but it works a treat for this.