Dec. 19: My darling Clementines

I’m doing almost no holiday cooking this year. I mean, not special stuff, like baking. I don’t know how that happened this year but I’m not lamenting this. So far it doesn’t feel like anything’s really missing, partly because the Delightful Dawn showered us with a yummy holiday cookie plate earlier this week.

In the middle of this cookie plate were a bunch of Cuties, also known as Clementines. Some people call them (incorrectly) tangerines or tangelos or mandarin oranges. According to the Cuties web site, they are a hybrid fruit—a cross between a sweet orange and a Chinese mandarin. And let me tell you, I don’t eat them very often, but when I do, I can’t stop! Somehow every year I forget how much I enjoyed them the year before. Dawn put five or six Cuties on our cookie plate, and after I gobbled them up, I sent Victor out for more. And two days later, they’re long gone. And I want more and more and more.

Oh, and I almost forgot… Last night I made fudge. This doesn’t count as cooking or baking because the recipe requires so little effort. But if you want a pretty tasty fudge, here’s one I can recommend.

Fudge

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chopped walnuts (if desired)

1. Melt butter and chips and milk together, then stir in nuts.
   
2. Pour into well-greased dish.
   
3. Refrigerate immediately to set.

Ideally you’d use good chocolate and all that stuff, but that means a trip to Williams-Sonoma or somewhere equally inconvenient. Also, this recipe is often touted as microwaveable, but if you’ve ever tried to melt chocolate in a microwave without scorching it, you know why that’s a bad idea. I recommend using a saucepan or a double boiler.

Can a fruit and candy critique pass for my good Christmas deed? That would be awesome, thanks.