Around my house Christmas is all about food, and while Mrs. Claus doesn’t spend all her time baking cookies that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know her way around a kitchen. Over the next few days I’d like to share some of Mrs. Claus’ favourite recipes with you! Each one of these recipes is written in the voice of one of the incarnations of Mrs. Claus from my latest anthology, Mrs. Claus: Not the Fairy Tale They Say.
Enjoy!
Fianna’s Fudge
A recipe by Fianna Claus of “You’d Better Watch Out” by Maren Matthias
Cookies may be classic but I am of the mind that the superior of all holiday treats is fudge, particularly this recipe as it contains one of my favorite things: Scotch Whiskey.
What you will need:
19 oz. of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup – 1/2 cup scotch – I recommend Laphroaig
In a saucepan – over medium-low heat – combine the chocolate and condensed milk and cook until the chocolate is almost melted. Remove from heat and let cool a bit before you add the whiskey or you’ll kill the alcohol, which would be a damn shame, but not TOO cold or it’ll kill the chocolate, which defeats the entire purpose. As it starts to thicken but isn’t fully solidified add the scotch, stirring until smooth.
Spread in prepared pan, then cover and refrigerate until firm. If you live somewhere frosty, like myself, you can just put it out on the back porch! Enjoy with scotch.
Excerpt from “You’d Better Watch Out” by Maren Matthias:
Nick beamed at her from behind the island counter.
“Darling!” he crowed. “I think I’ve finally perfected my sugar cookie recipe! Come, come, have a taste.”
“This is the urgent issue you had that couldn’t wait until I’d brought back the tree?” she asked sternly, although she couldn’t deny how adorable her husband was, giddy and completely covered in flour. She never tired of it.
“He took me away from reindeer training,” her eldest, Erin, was sitting on the far edge of the counter, her curved lips peppered with sugar.
“You both always take so long and this couldn’t wait. Here.”
Fianna accepted the cookie he handed her and took a bite. It was perfection. Nick chuckled to himself. She knew he didn’t need her opinion to know he’d succeeded; he just wanted to see the look on her face.
“I hate to interrupt…” They all turned to see Damien standing in the doorway. “There’s been another abduction. A children’s center in Oslo, Norway.”
Four sets of eyes zeroed in on Fianna. It was always the same reaction—an eruption of fire followed by a deep breath that wasn’t calming enough.
“This calls for Scotch.”
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