Today, in honor of it being my mom's birthday, I wanted to share what we used to call The Chocolate Fix.
My mom had a bigger chocolate addiction than I do, which is saying something, let me tell you. And when the craving came on her, god forbid there should be no chocolate in the house. It was important that - should there be no chocolate bar handy - we be able to make something ... quick. Some items were good to have: chocolate chips, Nestle's cocoa, and bread (for cocoa and toast which can serve as breakfast or dinner), chocolate ice cream, and Hershey bars. But, certain items were considered STAPLES in our house: butter, powdered sugar, regular sugar, unsweetened (powdered) cocoa, milk, graham crackers.
Now, don't get me wrong, we ate stuff besides chocolate. But we learned early what was important and what was not. And fortunately for us kids we had a grandmother who was perfectly willing to serve us chocolate ice cream for breakfast, and cocoa and toast for dinner, so there was little to no interruption in the building of our chocolate addiction.
Here are a couple of mom's Quick Chocolate Fixes:
Chocolate Graham Cracker Cookies
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 - 1/2 cup butter or margarine
1-2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
Mix till creamy, and add sugar/cocoa to taste.
Spread on a graham cracker and eat open faced, or press another square on top to make a sandwich.
Fudgy Fudge
I wish I had mom's Fudge recipe. It was sort of her chocolate signature, but she didn't work from a set recipe and apparently nobody ever wrote down the ingredients, so it's gone forever. I did find a recipe for Microwave Fudge, which I may have posted before, but it's the best I can do.
3 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine
Place all ingredients in large microwavable bowl. Nuke on medium (50% power) for 3-5 minutes, until chips are melted, stirring 1-2 times while cooking. Remove from microwave oven and stir in other ingredients if desired, such as nuts, marshmallows, shredded coconut, dried cherries, etc. Spoon mixture into well buttered 8/8/2 inch baking dish. Refrigerate until set. Makes about 2 pounds.
Happy Birthday Mom!
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