Recipe Corner: Chocolate Fudge and Snickerdoodles

I'm leaving for my parents' house in a couple of days, where my mom and I will do plenty of baking and I'll spend the best part of a week on a sugar high, but I couldn't leave my co-workers without some holiday baked goods, right? Of course not! So I spent Sunday afternoon in the kitchen, with iTunes blasting Christmas music. And this time I remembered to take pictures!

After setting out some butter to soften for the cookies, I started off with chocolate fudge and The Carpenters' Christmas Portrait. Don't ask me why, but that CD is the epitome of the holiday season at my house, and must always be played at least while decorating the Christmas tree, or it's not really Christmas.

Anyway, the fudge... It's a ridiculously easy recipe that my mom's been using for as long as I can remember. It's generally a hit, and very useful if there's someone you're trying to make a good impression on - significant others' parents, in-laws, cranky relatives, etc. - who happens to have a sweet tooth or be a fellow chocoholic. I did change the recipe a little bit this year, just to see how it would turn out, but I'm pretty sure it'll still be delicious.

Chocolate Fudge
Servings: ~24, depending on what size cube you cut it into
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Chilling Time: 90 minutes in the refrigerator
Difficulty: If you can use a can opener, pour and stir, you can do this!

Ingredients:
2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, coarsely chopped (really you can just break it into several chunks, and you'll be fine)
10 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (my mom's recipe calls for 12 oz. of these, and no other chocolate)
1 can (14 oz.) fat free sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

(Photo taken post-step 5)

Directions:
1. Pour condensed milk and all chocolate into a medium saucepan.
2. Place saucepan on medium heat.
3. Stir (more or less) constantly until the chocolate is entirely melted (it'll be a very thick liquid, similar to the consistency you'd feel stirring a heavy cream sauce); remove immediately from heat.
4. Add the vanilla; stir in thoroughly.
5. Quickly pour into an 8" x 8" pan (I cheat and line mine with aluminum foil so I don't have to wash the pan afterward - the pan is really just to give the fudge a shape and prevent it from being a gooey mess while it chills. Don't forget to spray Pam on the foil - I did, so three hours later, my first batch is hopelessly stuck. Argh.) - you want to get it out of the pot before it starts to set, which is pretty much immediately once it's away from the burner.
6. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 90 minutes, or until aluminum foil pulls easily away from the sides of the fudge.
7. Cut according to preference and enjoy!

Note: We usually store fudge in the fridge even after it's chilled and cut, but that's a personal texture preference - and it keeps longer. If you like softer fudge, you should be able to store it at room temperature for a week.

By the time the fudge was in the fridge, I was in a great holiday mood and decided to switch to music with a little more energy - in this case, Hanson's Snowed In. Mock me all you want, but once you get past the weirdness of a 12-year-old singing about "what Christmas means to me, my love" - and the fact that it's Hanson - it's really fun music to bake (/dance around your kitchen belting out the lyrics you know) to. And in my defense (sort of), I was 13 when the CD came out and had recently been to my first concert ever, which was, you guessed it!, Hanson.

Snickerdoodles
Servings: 48
Preparation Time: 20-25 minutes
Cooking Time: 8-10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy, but somewhat time-consuming, given the creaming and the rolling in cinnamon and sugar.

Ingredients:
1 cup* Smart Balance 50/50 butter blend (i.e. whatever form of butter-type substance you prefer for baking)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup Egg Beaters (= 2 eggs)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp. white vinegar (this was my substitution for cream of tartar, which I don't have - I hear lemon juice also works well as a substitute here)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbs. white sugar
1 tbs. ground cinnamon

*Most snickerdoodle recipes call for 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening - shortening grosses me out, so I use all butter, and I've never had a problem.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Cream together butter, sugar (1 1/2 cups), eggs and vanilla. I did this by hand because if I'm going to make sweets I know I'll end up eating too much of later, at least I'll get a little bit of an arm workout beforehand.
3. Add the flour, vinegar, baking soda and salt; stir in.
4. Mix 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon in a small bowl; shape dough into (small!) rounded spoonfuls and roll in the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
5. Place two inches apart on a baking sheet. I always cover mine with parchment paper and spray that with Pam - it makes for easier cleanup.
6. Bake 8-10 minutes. The cookies will puff up toward the end of the baking process, and that's when you know they're close to done. With my second batch, which came out just about picture perfect, I gave it 2 minutes after they started to puff before turning off the oven.
7. Remove from baking sheet and let cool.

So now I've gotten my first holiday baking and Christmas music fix, and my co-workers will have treats at work for a few days! What are your favorite holiday treats?