fudge

I love fall. I love fall. I love fall.

I thoroughly enjoyed September, that happy, anticipatory slide into the busiest, best time of year. Three months of built-in parties, one after the other. It can't get better than that.

To kick it off, we made Halloween candy fudge tonight. While I can't say I love the fudge recipe (that ca

n be fixed), the candy part is GENIUS. And it can be tinkered with to celebrate any occasion or just for yumminess.

It started with a cream cheese/white chocolate sludge we'll call "fudge" -- use your own recipe here -- and mix in some pretzels and dried cherries (much better than craisins, perfectly tart, perfectly sweet). Plop that mess into a parchment-lined 8-inch baking dish and flatten with greased hands. Cover the top with

Halloween candy (we used a random mix from those big bins at the grocery store), pushing do

wn on the candy to embed in the fudge.

Put the whole thing in the refrigerator for a couple hours or until firm enough to cut through the candy without losing its shape.

I had to hold myself back from adding sour gummy worms

and Rips and gummy bears, Nerds or Junior Mints. I'll admit that when it comes to candy and celebrating and Halloween I revert embarassingly to my childhood. I have been known to request that my tired kids keep trick or treating longer, until they "have enough candy." I really don't hoard it all for myself, I just like celebrating this wondrous holiday when you can knock on someone's door and they hand you CANDY! I'm sure this craze goes back to the sugar deprivation of my youth.

Now that I think about it, sugar and I do have early beginnings. In 4th grade I "went" with my first boy ever, as in an agreement that you like each other, so you feel special, but you aren't required to otherwise associate. I was too shy to actually talk to him

much. Well, his parents owned a candy factory. It was fate, I'm sure. Our class toured it.

I was a kid made for Willy Wonka. I still like touring our local candy factory and staring up at the pipes running along the ceiling labeled SUGAR and CHOCOLATE. So much better than WATER or NATURAL GAS. Makes you feel ooey and gooey inside. Like you're in a place where anything is possible. I mean, if they have sugar and chocolate running through their pipes, there must be oompa loompas under the tables or something.

Anyway, just get yourself a good, solid fudge recipe: white or dark or milk or whatever, or even just plain good quality chocolate. Mix in the good stuff and let it get firm (or harden if you're using straight chocolate). I actually like the chocolate idea. We'll try that next.