it's all about ME!: Kahlua Pecan Fudge

I'm a member of a group through meetup.com called What's Cooking Chicago?!. The group is for people who like to cook & bake! Events planned include anything from potlucks, to cooking demonstrations, food swaps, ethnic food tours, and everything else under the sun related to food. The organizer of this group is absolutely dynamite. She organizes these super events, mostly on the weekends, leaving many of us participants to wonder how does she get this all done, and work a full-time job. Check out her blog, Joelen's Culinary Adventures, to see more about what the group gets up to.

So anyway, yesterday was a swap event that was just too yummy to pass up. It was a fudge swap!!! We had to bring a pan of fudge to the swap to share with the other participants. I'd never made fudge before and for some reason I thought there was baking invloved. Thank god there wasn't!! I wasn't up for turning the oven on. And as someone at the fudge swap said, I don't know why fudge is so expensive when it's so easy to make. The only thing I can think of is maybe some fudges are made with really expensive chocolate.... I dunno.

So here's the recipe....

Kahlua Pecan Fudge

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 7oz jar marshmallow creme
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup Kahlua
1/4 tspn salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate pieces
1 cup milk chocolate peices
2/3 cup pecans (or nuts of choice)
1 tsp vanilla

Line 8" square baking pan with foil.

In a 2 quart saucepan, combine sugar, marshmallow creme, milk, butter, Kahlua and salt. Here's a tip I learned after the fact, at the swap...it easier to get the marshmallow creme out of the jar if you microwave it for a few seconds and then you can just pour it right out of the jar instead of tring to scoop it out, one gooey spoonful at a time. Aaack, I wish I'd known that, or thought of it ahead of time. Anywhooo...bring mixture to a rapid boil, stiring constantly for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Add all chocolate and stir until melted.