Oh Fudge!

A cook I am not!  And tonight's debacle with the fudge is no exception. 

For the last couple days I have been eyeing this Peanut Butter Candy recipe; I love, love, love peanut butter and when paired with the word "candy, well it sounded like a gift from heaven.  And with only 4 ingredients, only 2 steps, what could go wrong? Well, plenty.  I mean, even with the careful monitoring of the candy thermometer.  Ah yes, that's where I went wrong.  A recipe that required a candy thermometer, combined with the ever so smart idea of cooking this all up at 8:30 at night, when I stand the high risk of baby waking up just as the thermometer hits that critical point.  It did in fact cross my mind, but I thought what the heck, he can cry for a minute or two if necessary while I deal with the candy.

Well that's exactly what did happen.  Only his cry was a more urgent, "I've just had a bad dream and I really want my mommy" kind of cry, the kind that sends moms running quickly to see what's wrong.  Now here I am, thermometer is indeed approaching that critical soft ball stage and what am I to do?  I thought, Oh I bet I can just run quickly and grab him, put him in his playpen, then run back to the candy mixture on the stove. Well I did just that, and when I returned to the stove, well here it had exceeded the critical point.   Well I proceeded with all the other steps and soon realized this was not going to be the yummy fudgy treat I had hoped for.  Dry, crumbly, and had I not cut it out of the pan I placed it in, certain to resemble the fudge I created two years ago, which I think got buried in the backyard, still in the pan. 

All this would not be so bad had I not messed up last night's hamburger (how can you go wrong, again?) and the popovers I had made (said it made 6 but I had so much left over that I filled the other muffin tins, only to realize afterward, I had only greased the first 6.  Didn't matter, they all turned out like hockey pucks, only some came out easier than others). 

Well I guess you don't learn from osmosis (is that the right word) by watching the Food Network.  I had always kind of hoped that by watching it I had learned SOMETHING along the way.  I mean I watch so much of it, how come I can't cook?  Don't tell me practice because my budget can't afford that.  Lets just stick with pasta for now...I can do pasta.  And canned soup.  Don't ask me to steam any vegetables though.  Darn near burnt the steamer. 

~M~