White chocolate cherry fudge

This 'faux fudge' is ridiculously quick and easy to make - no cooking's involved. The tartness from the cherries & lemon zest offsets the sweetness of the chocolate.

Line an 8" square baking pan with foil or waxed paper, making sure it extends to the top of the pan. Spray lightly with nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl, combine and blend together well:

4 oz. softened cream cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Add: 12 oz. melted white chocolate

1/2 c. dried cherries OR cranberries (I used Montmorency dried cherries from Trader Joe's - they're chewy & tart)

1 teasp. grated lemon peel

(1 c. coarsely chopped walnuts, if desired)

Mix well and spread into prepared pan. Refrigerate for one hour, until firm. Remove fudge from pan by lifting foil. Cut into squares & serve chilled or at room temperature.

Fudge Truffle Pie

This recipe is INCREDIBLY easy & will satisfy ANYone's craving for chocolate. For the best result, use a GOOD quality chocolate (like Ghirardelli).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees - 325 degrees if you're using a glass pie plate. Spray a pie pan lightly with nonstick spray.

Melt (and cool slightly) a 12 oz. package of semisweet chocolate chips. Instead of smearing up a bowl, I spread the chips out on a large, heavy paper plate and microwave it until it's just barely melted.

In a mixing bowl, combine and mix well, using a wire whisk:
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teasp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy (whipping) cream

Stir in the melted chocolate and mix thoroughly. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pie dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the OUTER half of the pie is a bit puffy, but center is still slightly soft. Remove from oven and cool completely on a rack.

Serve with whipped cream. Garnish with raspberries or other berries, if you like. Keep refrigerated.

(Chopped, toasted nuts can also be added when you add the chocolate to the batter before baking.)

Highland Fudge Bars

Preheat oven to 350-----see instructions for baking times

1 cup softened butter (2 sticks)
1/2 cup powdered sugar (make sure there are no lumps)
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups unsifted flour

Cream butter, powdered sugar and salt. Add flour and mix well.
Pat it out into a 9 x 13 cake pan with your fingers.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes to make it into shortbread crust. Remove from oven but don't turn oven off. While crust is baking in the oven, prepare the fudge topping:

4 beaten eggs (just whip with a fork)
1 cup melted butter, cooled to room temp (2 sticks)
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour(don't bother to sift)
2 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use 1-1/2 C. Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips and 1 C. Nestle's semisweet chips) - measure them BEFORE you melt them! If you don't want to mess with a chocolatey mess in a bowl, melt half the chips at a time on a paper plate (microwave carefully until JUST melted) before adding to the mixture.

Mix eggs with melted butter and white sugar. Add baking powder, salt and flour and mix thoroughly.

Melt the chocolate chips - when melted add them to the egg, sugar etc. mixture and mix well.

Pour this mixture over the crust you just baked and carefully spread it so all the crust is covered.

Bake it for another 25-30 minutes. Remove it from the oven. Cool for an hour and then sift 1/3 C. powdered sugar over the top of the chocolate.

Let them cool thoroughly and cut them into small brownie bars; these are RICH. You can refrigerate them, but cut them before you do. They get very solid when they're cold.