Peanut Butter, Chocolate, and Pretzel Fudge

Tonight is our work Christmas Party, and I am ready.

 

Got my outfit.

Got the drinks (a good Kansas City beer).

and got some fudge. Why fudge you ask? Because we needed to bring something, and this sounded delicious. It's peanut butter fudge on top of a chocolate pretzel crust and covered in chocolate ganache. Holy smokes!

This isn't my first time making fudge. I did make it in home economics class at Farmington Middle School back in the 7th grade (that and pajama pants I still have somewhere at my parent's house). I have a feeling this recipe is slightly more complicated than what we made back then.

The original recipe makes maple peanut butter fudge, but I couldn't for the life of me find maple extract at the grocery store. I ended up just making peanut butter fudge, but if you can find maple extract I would suggest adding it (1 1/2 tsp.) because it sounds amazing.

Peanut Butter, Chocolate, and Pretzel Fudge

Adapted from Sprinkle Bakes

For the pretzel crust:

1 cup finely ground pretzels

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

4 Tbs. butter

2 Tbs. sugar

1 egg, beaten

Grease a 9 x 9 inch baking dish, or line with parchment paper. Put the chocolate and butter in a medium heat-proof bow and place on top of a saucepan of simmering water. 

Allow to melt, stirring occasionally. Add the egg and sugar. Cook until slightly thickened. Remove from the pot and stir in pretzel crumbs. 

Once combined, press the mixture into the prepared pan with buttered hands.

For the peanut butter fudge:

2 14 oz. cans of sweetened condensed milk

2 10 oz. bags of peanut butter chips

Combine the condensed milk and peanut butter chips and microwave for 2-5 minutes, until smooth. Pour over the crust and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

For the chocolate ganache topping:

1 cup chocolate chips

3 Tbs. heavy cream

Some ground and thick cut pretzels

Combine chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over simmering water and stir until melted (about 3 minutes). Spread the ganache over the fudge with a spatula. Top with ground and thick cut pretzels.

Refrigerate 2 hours to overnight. Cut into squares. Yum!