Recipe for "pbutter-fudge"

NAME

     PBUTTER-FUDGE - An extremely rich candy
     I got this recipe from a friend, Ed Firestone, who is  argu-
     ably  the  best  cook  in  Palo  Alto.  The results resemble
     Reese's Peanut  Butter  Cups  that  have  attained  Nirvana.
     Don't scrimp on the peanut butter; get the best you can find
     or make it yourself.  If there's  anything  besides  peanuts
     and salt in it, find another brand.

INGREDIENTS (1.5 kg of fudge)

     500 g     smooth natural peanut butter
     500 g     powdered sugar
     250 g     butter (2 sticks-save the wrappers)
     5 ml      vanilla extract
     400 g     semi-sweet chocolate (otherwise known as 1 bag  of
               chocolate chips)

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water or the
               top  of  a double boiler.  Make sure you don't get
               even a drop of water in the chocolate.  Stir  fre-
               quently  with  a spatula while doing the following
               steps and remove it from the  hot  water  just  as
               soon as it's melted.
          (2)  Melt the butter.
          (3)  Mix  together  the  powdered  sugar,  the   melted
               butter, and the vanilla.  Don't bother sifting the
               powdered sugar.   Just  stir  everything  together
               with a wooden spoon until it's smooth and creamy.
          (4)  Stir in the peanut butter.  This will  break  most
               flimsy wooden spoons if you're not careful.  Mush-
               ing everything together with your hands works well
               and is lots of fun.
          (5)  Press the fudge  into  a  buttered  20-  to  25-cm
               square  pan.  You don't need much butter-just wipe
               the butter papers over the inside of the pan.  You
               can  also  line the pan with foil and butter that;
               this  works  especially  well  if  you're   making
               several  batches  in  a  row  to give to people as
               holiday presents.  Press the fudge in firmly;  you
               don't  want  any  air bubbles in it.  You will get
               your hands messy here.
          (6)  Pour the chocolate over the fudge and spread it in
               an  even  layer.  The easiest way to do this is to
               shake the pan gently until the chocolate is even.
          (7)  Let the chocolate cool to  room  temperature.   Do
               not put it in the refrigerator.
          (8)  Using a  sharp  knife  cut  the  fudge  into  2-cm
               squares.  If you defied my instructions and put it
               in the  refrigerator,  the  chocolate  layer  will
               shatter when you try to cut it.
          (9)  Unless you are  going  to  serve  it  immediately,
               store it in the refrigerator.  Let it come to room
               temperature before serving.

NOTES

     Again, don't scrimp on the  peanut  butter!   Skippy  simply
     will not do.
     Unless you use the foil method, you will inevitably  destroy
     at  least  one  piece  getting  it out of the pan.  The best
     method is to line the pan with foil,  let  the  fudge  cool,
     lift  it out, peel off the foil, put it back in the pan, and
     cut it.  This keeps it from sticking to the pan.  If you try
     to cut it out of the pan, it tends to fall apart.

RATING

     Difficulty: moderate.   Time:  20  minutes  preparation,  15
     minutes cooling.  Precision: no need to measure.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Paul Asente
     Stanford University, Computer Systems Lab, Palo Alto CA
     decwrl!glacier!cascade!asente asente@SU-Cascade.ARPA
     "You got peanut butter on my chocolate!"