Peanut Butter Fudge

This was my first attempt at peanut butter fudge and it came out perfect. It was soft, creamy, and absolutely delicious. I have prepared chocolate fudge before and I have learned a couple of lessons from past failures. The first lesson is to use a timer to keep track of the seven minutes, or you can use a candy thermometer if you have one. The next lesson is to use either a wooden spoon or a metal spoon to stir the sugar, evaporated milk, and butter mixture; a plastic spoon will melt and become part of the fudge. Go ahead, ask me how I know!

Ingredients:
4 cups white sugar
1 cup ligh brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
1 (16 ounce) jar peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

2. Ina medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, brown sugar, butter and evaporated milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil for 7 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in marshmallow creme until well incorporated and melted. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla until smooth; spread in prepared pan. let cool before cutting into squares.

Fudge Brownies

I had intended on doing these for a food day my wife was to have at work, but she forgot what day that was. Which worked out, because we got to enjoy them all. This is the first time since high school home ed class that I have made brownies from scratch. I found the recipe in the small cook book that came with my Kitchen Aide Stand Mixer. I received this as a Christmas gift from my wife a couple of years ago and it has gotten a lot of use. It's also very helpful since I have never been much of a baker, or cooked many meals that have required the use of a mixer. I hope to get more confident and begin to broaden the use of the appliance, I'm sure the possibilities are endless.

1 cup margarine or butter, softened, divided
4 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I didn't add these)

Melt 1/2 cup margarine and chocolate in small saucepan over lowe heat: set aside to cool.
Place remaining 1/2 cup margarine, sugar, and vanilla in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and flat beater to mixer. Turn to speed 2 and mix about 30 seconds. Turn to speed 6 and beat about 2 minutes. Turn to speed 4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating about 15 seconds after each addition. Stop and scrape bow.
Add cooled mixture. Turn to speed 2 and mix about 30 seconds. Stop an scrape bowl. Add all remaining ingredients. Turn to Stir Speed and mix until well blended, about 30 seconds.
Pout into grease and floured 13/9/2 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack and cut.