Butter Rum Fudge

Good Wednesday Morning!

Today, I'm sharing one of my favorite tried-n-true (TNT) recipes with you.I think I got the original from Food.com; this recipe is almost exactly it (there's a typo; there should be 12 ounces of chocolate chips!).

DO NOT TRY TO FIT THIS IN A 9x9 PAN! Gravy. The first time I did this recipe, I followed to the letter - well, as far as that goes. ;D It was so thick, I had to cut the piece in half width-wise! It's perfect - like my photo above - in a 13x9.

Now, then. My tweaks: I don't add walnuts and pecans. I add walnuts and a cup of raisins that I've soaked in hot water with a teaspoon of rum flavoring added. It plumps the raisins and gives them a boost of flavor. I also add just a bit more rum flavoring.

This fudge is one of Kenn's favorites. I only make it once a year, for the open house. This year, I added a few mini marshmallows, too, by accident - but it's still yummy. :D

I'm gone. Hopefully not crazy.... :D Have a wonderful, BLESSED day!

Carrot Cake Waffles

 Good Friday Morning!

How has your week been? I hope FANTASTIC! :)

Today's review is another recipe. This one is brought to you from Willow Bird Baking, for carrot cake waffles.

First, you'll notice that my plate only has ONE of these waffles on it; the photo on the original blog? THREE. And I'm pretty sure they're the same size as my waffle.

This recipe is another YES, PLEASE! However, I won't be making them very often. My GOODNESS. I could only eat half of the one I'm showing you here! It was SO rich, with the cream cheese topping - and you KNOW I love my cream cheese! :D

First, again I had to thin the batter down. It wouldn't MOVE in the waffle iron, which was a problem. But I added probably another 1/3 cup milk, and it did fine. :)

I also used a new product, which I'll review next week, alongside the raisins.

The carrots made it really pretty, too; the waffle was very tasty. There's not a lot of sugar in here, so it's the maple syrup and the raisins that make it taste like the carrot cake we all know and love. The cream cheese spread doesn't hurt.... :D

Other than that, I didn't change anything - used my lower-carb milk, but that's it. I did do the spice bloom in the butter, because I had lots of time this morning. And this is a time-consuming recipe. Definitely another lazy-day breakfast. :)

Kenn's not a big breakfast person, but he does like it when I make him special things for breakfast. :) As you can see, he ate his whole waffle - and his bacon. Give the man bacon, and he'll give you a smile! :D I thought you'd like to know I'm not actually eating this stuff all by myself. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL weekend! Please say a prayer for my family; we're having my nephew's memorial service Sunday. Kenn can't go, and I know I'll miss his emotional support. Thank you for praying! :)

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

 Happy Wednesday! :) How's your week going? Can you BELIEVE we're so close to the end of the month already? We're on the downhill roll to Christmas, ladies and gentlemen! :D

Today's recipe is brought to you by Foodie With Family. I really enjoy her blog! This recipe's for Cinnamon Swirl Bread.

Her story of her recipe development is fun. :D Picky eaters are the reason about 75% of new recipes are created, I think. :D

I have to admit: when I made the bread, I was a little dubious about the dough. It was, on hindsight, a sturdier dough than I'm used to using. part of it came from the fact that I didn't have any potato flakes (I HATE starting a recipe and finding out one of my ingredients is GONE! AUGH!!!). And probably, also, because I haven't made bread by HAND in forever. But I continued, even though the dough felt heavy in my hand.

Then there was the filling; I ended up doubling the amount of raisins in it.

But this gets a YES, PLEASE! from my family! It's cinnamony - have you picked up on the fact I love cinnamon? :D - and the filling is baked well into the bread.

Now, because I'm used to making cinnamon ROLLS when I'm rolling dough, I ended up rolling the dough too thin. My loaf isn't as big as it should have been. But I used the extra length to make some cinnamon rolls. They turned out fantastically; they're not as light as the normal dough I make, but they're good.

I'm going to use this filling again, definitely; I'll probably make the dough I normally make in my bread machine. I can't wait to try it out! I'll need to have a special occasion, though - that many raisins on top of bread? Well, shoot me to the moon! :) But it WILL happen.

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!