Learning to make Peanut Butter fudge

“Ok, Raechel. My mom and I had given this recipe to a lot of people and as far as I know, no one has ever been able to make it on their own. I’ll help you out this time, but you’ll have to let me know if you are actually able to make it without me later,” Meara said as she wondered through the kitchen pulling out peanut butter fudge ingredients.

“I’m pretty good in the kitchen, Meara. I think I can make a simple batch of fudge. I know how to make over a hundred different types of cookies as you well know.” Raechel said while she sat on the couch bouncing Julian on her knee and making silly faces at him.

“Fudge is completely different than cookies and this fudge isn’t made from marshmallow fluff. That’s cheating.”

“You’re mommy thinks I can’t make some silly family fudge. Well we’ll show her now won’t we,” Raechel said to Julian before standing up to lay him down in his swing.

“Ok. I have all the ingredients and the pot. Are you ready to get started?” Meara turned to face Raechel, her face lit up like a Christmas tree. The holidays never seem real to Meara until she has to make a batch of fudge, then things suddenly become all twinkles and joy. It was one of the reasons Raechel asked Meara to teach her how to make the fudge. Raechel had worried Meara wouldn’t get into the spirit of the season this year since her family had disowned her.

“So the first thing you do is put the ingredients in the pan and stir them up.” Meara said as I measured things.

“Isn’t water and evaporated milk together like the same thing as skim milk?”

“That works in some recipes, but for some reason it messes up this fudge. I don’t know why, but whenever people use regular milk instead of the canned milk, it turns into taffy. Ok. Now you have to get it to boil. I stir constantly, but my mom knows like the perfect temperature to cook it at where it won’t burn if you walk away. I don’t dare experiment because you get a lot of wasted ingredients that way.”

Raechel stood in front of the stove stirring the pot. Not seeing any reason to stand next to her the whole time, Meara sat down on the couch reading a book.

“How long do I have to stand here stirring?”

“Until the fudge is boiling really slowly and looks thick. Be sure to get the edges of the pot too because it could burn there and then get stirred into the fudge later.”

“Gee thanks for the warning.”

After about twenty minutes, Meara walked over to look in the pot. “Getting close.”

“Those sure look like thick bubbles to me. How do you know if it is done or not?”

“Well I just know. I’ve been making this for years, but I will show you how to test it.” Meara walked to the cupboard. She pulled out a small bowl and poured cold water from a pitcher in the fridge into it. “Take a small spoonful and drizzle it into the water. Then you squish it with your fingers to see if it forms a ball and stays in that shape. Go ahead and check it.”

Raechel tried to form a ball out of the fudge mixture only to find that it kept flattening in the bowl.

“See? Not done. So stir a while longer.”

“This is taking forever!” Raechel shifted from one foot to another.

“I never said it was fast. You should try to make a triple batch.”

After a few more minutes, they checked to see if the fudge formed a ball again with success. They removed the pot from the stove, added the butter and vanilla flavoring, and stirred vigorously.

“I normally leave it in the pot for a while to let it cool down some, but you don’t have to.” Meara moved through the kitchen getting a small 8×8” pan and then greasing it. “Pour the fudge in this.”

Once it was in the new pan, Meara put the fudge in the fridge.

“When can we eat it? I’m hungry now.”

“In a few hours. Let’s go walk around the trailer park and show Julian all the Christmas lights while we wait.”

And so they wandered around showing Julian what Christmas decorations looked like. Christmas had officially begun for Meara.

Imperfection (Pure Blood)

At the center of a war brewing between two packs: her son