Guest Nancy Coco Coffee Fudge #recipe +#giveaway

MAYA: I’m delighted that Nancy Coco (AKA Nancy Parra) is visiting the kitchen again and sharing a recipe from Give Fudge a Chance. I met Nancy a decade ago when, as a not-yet-published writer, I moderated a panel about food mysteries at the Malice Domestic convention. The next time we met, at the Bouchercon convention, I told her the good news that I’d gotten a publishing contract and that my first book would come out the following year. She offered to write a blurb for it, though she had a day job and contracts for two different series, which shows you how thoughtful she is. Now she has five series! Please welcome Nancy, a good writer and a good friend who's here with a recipe and a book giveaway.

NANCY: Hi, I’m Nancy Coco and for me there’s nothing more fun than cooking up new recipes. My Candy-coated Mystery series contains 8 to 10 recipes per book. Luckily, I started baking when I was five, making a Lazy Day Cake in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Yes, I read the recipe because I was weird like that. I went on to bake for years, doing 4-H demonstrations and entering cakes in the county fair. Speaking of county fairs, my new book (number 11) in the series starts with a fudge competition at the county fair.

When a wonderful review blogger chose to make the coffee fudge recipe in Give Fudge a Chance (which she loved), I couldn’t give up on these great coffee baking chips I found at the store. So, I thought I’d give you a sneak preview into my next experiment with coffee and fudge. Can’t find coffee baking chips? Don’t worry, you can also make it with chocolate chips and coffee.

Easy Cappuccino Fudge

Love the taste of coffee? This fudge is right for you. The recipe calls for coffee or espresso baking chips. Can’t find coffee baking chips? You can use dark chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of cooled coffee. I’ll tell you how when you get to that step.

 Ingredients

1 cup of coffee baking chips (Look in the chocolate chip area in your local store)
1 cup dark or semi-chocolate chips depending on your flavor preference

See note above. You will use two cups of chocolate cups if you can't find coffee baking chips plus 2 tablespoons of cooled dark brewed coffee or espresso. 

4 tablespoons of butter, divided into 2 tablespoon portions
1 16 oz can of dark chocolate frosting
2 cups of white chocolate chips

So here’s another important thing to check for this recipe. Make sure the package of white chocolate chips contains two cups. Mine had less than 2 cups and so I made a call on the fly and added coffee chips to make up 2 cups total.

1 16 oz can of vanilla frosting

I promise this is not as complicated as it sounds. Being a baker, I sometimes run into issues and thought I’d share.

Directions:

Line an 8x8 inch pan with parchment paper.

In a microwave safe bowl, place chocolate chips, coffee chips, and 2 tablespoons of butter. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between, until melted. If you don’t have coffee chips, then here is where you use 2 cups total of chocolate chips and stir in cooled coffee until smooth.

Next remove the plastic lid and the foil seal from the chocolate frosting and microwave in its container until melted 

I know, I’ve never melted a can of frosting in a microwave or a pan before. How would this turn out? Let’s find out.

Turns out it’s easy! Once melted, pour chocolate frosting into melted chocolate and coffee chips and stir until creamy. Then pour into the lined pan and set aside. 

Okay, so at this point my microwave mysteriously stopped working. Funny considering it’s for a mystery. So, from here on out I had to use saucepans on medium-low heat constantly stirring so it wouldn’t burn. Yes, you can laugh at me!

Next remove plastic lid and foil seal and microwave vanilla frosting until melted. 

Worried about microwaving frosting in its container? You can scoop out the frosting in separate microwave safe bowls and melt that way.

Then, in a microwave safe bowl, melt white chocolate chips and remaining butter in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until melted and smooth.

Pour the melted vanilla frosting into the melted white chocolate chip mixture and stir until smooth and creamy. 

Slowly pour vanilla mixture over the top of the chocolate fudge being careful not to mix the two and smooth top with a spatula. 

Let set until firm. Cut into 49 squares. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy! 

In the final picture the fudge looks dark on the bottom and light brown on the top instead of white due to the white baking chip snafu.

I promise this was delicious and easy even when I ran into some trouble. Not sure about cappuccino fudge? Get my plain coffee fudge recipe inside book 11 in the series, Give Fudge a Chance.

GIVEAWAY!🎈🎈🎈

For a chance to win a copy of Give Fudge a Chance, tell me what kind of baking chips you prefer? Dark Chocolate, Semi-sweet Chocolate, White Chocolate, or Coffee? 

I can send only to US addresses. Please leave your e-mail in your comment so I can contact you if you win. 

The giveaway is open through Tuesday, July 11.

USA Today Bestselling Author, Nancy Coco AKA Nancy J Parra AKA Nell Hampton is the author of over 35 published novels which include five mystery series: The Oregon Honeycomb Mystery Series (Kensington), The Candy-Coated Mystery Series (Kensington), The Kensington Palace Mystery Series (Crooked Lane), The Wine Country Tours Mystery Series (Crooked Lane) The Gluten-free Baker’s Treat Mysteries (Berkley Prime Crime), and The Perfect Proposal Mysteries (Berkley Prime Crime). To learn more about her books, go to her website: https://www.nancyjcoco.com

Follow Nancy on Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/nancyjcoco

Twitter at: @NancyJParra