Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Fudge

The best part about having a hubby who has a ton of co-workers is I know I can create or try a new recipe, take one serving and send the rest to work so there's no temptation for us.  Believe me when I tell you that there would be a lot of temptation if this fudge was in the house!  I was craving that sweet and salty combo and I wondered if I could make a good fudge out of the things I had on my baking shelf.  I decided on trying to make a dark chocolate peanut butter fudge with pretzels.  Yeah.  I grabbed my bag of Hershey's Dark Chocolate Chips, my can of Borden Eagle fat free sweetened condensed milk, Reese's Peanut Butter Chips and a small bag of pretzels.

From experience I knew this fudge begins to set in seconds so I measured out 1/2 cup of the peanut butter chips and 3 ounces of pretzels.  I crushed them in a baggie so they were in pieces.

I put the dark chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and added the milk.  You don't scrape the milk out of the can, you pour until the stream gets really thin, leaving about an ounce or slightly more clinging to the sides of the can.

Put the ambrosia in the making in the microwave for 2 minutes.  While that's heating up, I cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of an 8x8 glass pan and gave a quick, barely there spray of cooking spray.

When it comes out of the microwave, it needs to be thoroughly combined until it looks like this:

Yeah, try not to lick the screen.  This is where it sets up SUPER fast so you have to make quick work of it.  Matter of fact, I couldn't even take pics it was such a mad dash.  I added half the fudge to the pan and spread it corner to corner.  Then I sprinkled the peanut butter chips down first so they could begin warming from the heat of the fudge and then I sprinkled 2/3 of the pretzel pieces edge to edge.  I grabbed the rest of the fudge and saw it was almost set.  I freaked out and put it on the middle and began thinking I'd need to file this under "kitchen disasters."  I got the rubber spatula and began working the fudge.  The heat from the peanut butter chips which were now almost melted so it helped to loosen up the fudge.  Thankfully after a minute or two I was able to get it worked to the corners and put the pretzel pieces on top.

I covered it in foil and put it in the fridge to set up.  I couldn't wait to give it a try to see if it was as good as I'd imagine it would be.  About 2-3 hours later, I grabbed it and it was all set up.  I grabbed my cutting board and flipped it out on top.

I peeled back the parchment paper and flipped it back over.

I cut it up into 6 strips and then cut each strip into 6 pieces so I'd get an even 36 pieces.  When the Mr and I tried them, we both LOVED it.  I wish the pretzels were slightly more crunchy on top but they are in the middle.  You know how pretzels can get when exposed to a bit of moisture.  (Slight condensation from the foil)  But the co-workers spoke and within 2 hours, they were gone and the Mr was fielding compliments for me left and right.  So I'd consider those a success despite near disaster!

The deep, rich taste of dark chocolate, a thin, tasty ribbon of peanut butter and crunchy pretzels throughout...this fudge was mouthwatering and as fudge goes, relatively easy!

Nutritional Info* (per serving)
36 servings per recipe
108 calories, Total Fat 4g, Sat Fat 3g, Sodium 60mg, Total Carbs 17g, Fiber 1g, Sugars 13g, Protein 2g

* Nutritional info will be different if you use ingredients other than listed.

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