Cookies are one of the mainstays at our house during the Christmas holidays. Normally, Randy bakes most of them. It’s the only time of year he enjoys scouting out new recipes and trying his hand at baking. When it comes to Christmas cookies, he bakes better than I do.

But this year, he has a lot on his work plate, so I’ve been making a few of our favorites, with several more to go. This recipe I made last night. They taste like Mounds bars and are probably my favorite chocolate cookie. I took a picture of a picture with my phone camera, thus the glare. Mine never come out looking as good as this, but it’s the taste that counts!

Fudge Meltaways

Crust:
1/2 cup butter
1 square unsweetened chocolate (1 oz.)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg, beaten
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup coconut (I use unsweetened, which you have to get at health food stores or fruit markets)
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Middle Layer:
1/4 cup butter
1 T milk or cream
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (I forgot to sift – they still come out fine)
1 tsp. vanilla

Top Layer:
1 1/2 squares unsweetened chocolate (1 1/2 oz.)

Melt 1/2 cup butter and 1 square chocolate in saucepan. Blend granulated sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, egg, crumbs, coconut, and nuts into butter-chocolate mixture. Mix well and press into ungreased pan. (9 x 9 or 11 1/2 x 7 1/2). Refrigerate while you make the middle layer.

Mix 1/4 cup butter, milk, confectioners’ sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla (beat well until creamy). Spread over crumb crust layer. (A knife works better than a spatula for spreading.) Chill.

Melt 1 1/2 squares chocolate and spread over chilled filling. (You’ll need a spatula to get it all out of the pan.) Chill. Cut before firm. Makes 3 to 4 dozen squares. (I cut them small.) These freeze well.

Before I made the Fudge Meltaways, I tried my hand at a quick homemade fudge recipe from Kraft Foods. They call it Baker’s Classic Chocolate Fudge, but I used different chocolate. I’ll just call it:

Basic Fudge

2 8 oz. packages (or anything that makes up 16 oz.) Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate (that’s what I used, but you can substitute.)
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chopped walnuts (you could substitute coconut or other nuts here)
2 tsp. vanilla

Line an 8-inch square pan with wax paper. Microwave chocolate and milk in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 to 3 minutes or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 2 minutes. (I only needed to cook it for the 2 minutes.) Stir until completely melted. Stir in nuts and vanilla.

Spread over wax paper into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Refrigerate 2 hour or until firm. Use the wax paper to help lift the fudge from the pan. Cut into bite-sized pieces. Good stuff!

Happy baking~