I ate so much over Thanksgiving, I can’t believe I made this.  I really can’t.  However, I am a sucker for a super simple recipe and one that can transform some basic pantry ingredients into something spectacular.  So, of course my little arm was twisted and I made this super simple two ingredient fudge.

The recipe was initially found while perusing Pinterest and the recipe I followed came from www.vintagesugarcube.com.  Their recipe called for a can of vanilla frosting and a can of peanut butter, however I only had chocolate frosting.  Since I adore chocolate & peanut butter, I thought it would be the perfect marriage.  It was.  I also added some salted peanuts in mine for some texture and I love the salty/sweet element.  If you are in a pinch this holiday season, I highly recommend this super simple treat.

Two (or three) Ingredient Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge
Ingredients

Directions

Lightly grease a 9′x9′ or 8′x8′ pan with butter and set aside.  Microwave Vanilla Frosting and Peanut Butter individually for 1 minute.  Combine in large bowl and stir until smooth.  Spoon into pan and refrigerate until firm.

Note I just thought about this…After microwaving and before refrigerating, this would also be a dynamite topping on some ice cream.  I am definitely going to try that….

A Thanksgiving tradition is pumpkin pie – problem is, I am not a fan. I like the pumpkin flavor reasonably well, however I find the pumpkin pie to be too dense in pure pumpkin.  I am a heavy carb kind of a girl – a real white flour and butter kind of a gal, if you catch my drift.

My mom, being the traditionalist that she is believes that you had to have pumpkin pie with Thanksgiving dinner so for years growing up I just passed on turkey day dessert.  All this changed several years ago when a dear neighbor told me about Pumpkin Crisp.  A buttery crust houses a delicious pumpkin filling and a crispy, buttery, sugary crust tops that.  The crumb crust gets crisp, yummy and melts deliciously into the decadent pumpkin filling.  I love the dish and so does everyone that tries it.

I should also add, that it is simple.  No crust to roll out and nothing fancy. I hope you try it and like it as much as my family does.

Pumpkin Crisp
Ingredients

 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
 1 egg
 1/2 cup butter, melted
 1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree
 2 eggs
 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
 1/2 cup white sugar
 2/3 cup evaporated milk
 3/4 cup white sugar
 1/2 cup butter, softened

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Set aside 1 cup cake mix for the topping. Combine remaining cake mix, 1 egg, and melted butter or margarine. Pat into a 9×13 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix pumpkin, 2 eggs, spices, 1/2 cup sugar, and milk. Pour pumpkin mixture over the cake mix crust.

In a small bowl, combine 1 cup cake mix and 3/4 cup sugar. Cut in 1/2 cup softened butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle mixture on top of pumpkin mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 minutes.

I like to cut this into 12 servings, but you could make the squares smaller or larger depening on how “stuffed” you are after Thanksgiving dinner. 🙂

I can’t believe the holidays are here.  Every year, post-holiday, I say the same thing – next year will be different, I will be better prepared and enjoy the holiday season.  I need to give it up and just embrace my crazy life.

The crazy life I lead exists of my 24 hour job as mommy and wife, my job on the side which is marketing for a large website and well, this blog, which is just fun. 🙂    I was recently contacted by Kathy Raffles of Raffles Toffee asking if I would like to try some of her toffee.   I agreed, with alterior motives of taste testing some treats that I could potentially send some relatives that live in California.  (BTW – I must add that I never send my relatives in California anything, because I never know what to send them and I just forget.  I know, I am a crappy niece.)  Nonetheless, this offer brought this top of mind and I would be able to see what the packaging was like and the quality of the product to potentially send my relatives.

Several days later this is what I received:

Beautiful – yes!  Delicious – Oh my gosh, yes!  Easy gift – yes!

OK, so let me start with the packaging.  They come in these reusable metal tins with a satin ribbon,  providing a beautiful presentation when gift giving as well as a easy way to serve the toffee.  Inside is one pound of toffee (I was sent both dark and milk chocolate) and both were delicious.  I am partial to milk chocolate, but both were amazing.

Upon opening the toffee you will find it sealed, to keep it fresh and mine was in large pieces.  I especially likes this because I was able to break off pieces that were as big or little as I wanted.

To try this delicious toffee, go to www.etoffee.com . The cost per tin, which includes one pound of toffee is $18, which is consistent with other high-end toffees out there.