Peanut Butter Fudge: Carleen M. Loper guest post

Today is National Chocolate Chip Day, and yesterday I posted a Chocolate Chip Recipe Round-Up. My friend Carleen Loper was already in the process of maximizing the 'chocolate chip' holiday with her Godmother's recipe for Peanut Butter Fudge. I had to ask her for the recipe!

CARLEEN M. LOPER:
Plus ça Change, Plus c'est la Même Chose

Janet happened to put up a post about National Chocolate Chip Day at the very same time I was waiting for a batch of peanut butter fudge to set in the kitchen. Needless to say, I did not wait for it to entirely set before digging a knife in for a taste test. P.S. yum.

The chocolate chip. Who among us can really count the ways we’ve added its beloved and nostalgic magic to recipes?

The recipe I made today is an old family favorite. It started with my godmother, Ma Tante Rita. A lovely French Canadian soul who was my grandmother’s sister, and the relative I loved to spend the most time with growing up. Peanut Butter Fudge would primarily be found during the holidays. My mother continued the tradition, and my husband, the peanut butter freak, has carried it on to the next generation. It makes a huge batch of candy and you can separate it into nice little packages of pieces to share with multiple friends or family as you go visiting.

Today it came to mind because our young neighbor next door is having a graduation-slash-birthday-slash-going-in-the-navy party. When he was little, I knew peanut butter cups were always the candy I had to buy at Halloween to make him happy. He’s 18 now, so he’ll get a slightly more grown up version of his favorite sweet.

Ma Tante Rita’s Peanut Butter Fudge

Ingredients:
1 16 oz jar creamy peanut butter
1 16 oz package confectioner’s sugar
2 sticks butter
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
1 12 oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Melt the peanut butter and butter together over medium-low heat.
Mix the confectioner’s sugar and graham crackers together in a large bowl. Pour the peanut butter and butter mixture into the dry ingredients and stir well. Press evenly into a 13x9 pan.
Melt the chocolate chips. I melt them in a glass bowl in the microwave at 30 second intervals/stirring with a rubber spatula as they melt for approximately 3 minutes.
Spread over the top. (It should cover completely in a thin layer).
Let set before slicing.

Carleen M. Loper lives in Massachusetts, works in a library, and loves to play in the kitchen!