Candy Corn Fudge

I thumbed through magazines on my bro’s coffee table and found a recipe for Candy Corn Fudge in the October Woman’s Day. My Mom divides up her old magazines between the kids and we all share.  I knew the fudge was going to be the second item on my holiday treat “to do” list.

The Ingredients:

• 8 oz. Cream Cheese – at room temperature
• 2 Cups Confectioners’ Sugar
• 2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
• 3 Cups White Chocolate Chips – we used Nestle Toll House Vanilla Chips (about 18 ounces)
• 2 Cups Mini Pretzels or Broken Pretzel Pieces – we broke up our mini pretzels – so there!
• 1 Cup Dried Cherries – you could also use dried cranberries
• 1 Cup Candy Corn

Directions:

1. Line an 8 or 9 inch square pan with 2 sheets of parchment paper, leaving an overhang on all sides.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl until smooth, about 2 minutes; beat in the vanilla
3. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate/vanilla chips in the microwave according to the package instructions – (I melted it using 30 second intervals at 60% power) – I went through 4 cycles, stirring in between with a rubber spatula.
4. Add the melted chocolate to the cream cheese mixture and beat until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Fold in the pretzels and cherries.
6. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and top with the candy corn.
7. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
8. Using the parchment paper overhangs, lift the fudge out of the pan and transfer it to a cutting board and cut into 1 inch pieces.

I wasn’t in my own kitchen, so I kept getting distracted when it came to progress/step-by-step photos… sorry about that!

Vanilla chip and cream cheese mixture in the KitchenAid…

Mixture added to prepared 8 inch square pan…

Topped with candy corn…

While the fudge seemed really sweet (mostly because I haven’t had much sugar over the past 3 months) – I really liked how the flavors balanced out. The sweetness from the vanilla chips/sugar, teamed with the tanginess of the cream cheese – the salty punch from the pretzels and a touch of tartness from the dried cherries. It worked well together. Would I change anything? Yes… the pieces I cut were way too big. The recipe said you should get 64 pieces from the pan – I now understand why. It was just really hard to cut through the candy corn, probably should have used a sharper knife.

All in all, a success! I brought some into work for co-workers to sample and nobody died ;).

Question: Are you a milk chocolate/dark chocolate fudge person, or can you handle white chocolate, vanilla or other flavored fudges?