Crazy (Crack) Bread

As I mentioned in the previous post on fudge, Pinterest has become an obsession. One great thing that has come out of it has been the overwhelming and never-ending amount of food porn...and complete with links to recipes!

One thing that I kept seeing over and over again was something called "Crack Bread". As you see in the title, I also a.k.a'd it as "Crazy Bread" as I wasn't quite ready to explain to my 7-year old what crack was and why I would name something I wanted him to eat after it. That and I feared he would tell his teachers that I make and give him crack to consume.

It seemed interesting enough and anything that involved filling gaps in bread with cheese and bacon was rock solid in my mind.

It was indeed tasty but definitely sinful. There can't be anything good about something called "Crack Bread" with ingredients like bread, cheese, bacon, butter and ranch dressing mix. Still, with Super Bowl Sunday coming up, it's something easy to whip up for a party and definitely coma inducing if you want to drown out the sounds of football.

Crazy/Crack Bread (Pull-Apart Yumminess)

1 unsliced loaf of (round is preferable) sourdough bread
8-12 oz cheddar cheese, thinly sliced (I grated mine but will slice next time to have them fit into the spaces for better melting)
3 oz bag Oscar Mayer Real Bacon bits (I just cooked up some bacon I had on hand)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 Tbsp Ranch dressing mix

Using a sharp bread knife cut the bread going both directions. Do not cut through the bottom crust.
Place slices of cheese in between cuts. Sprinkle bacon bits on bread, making sure to get in between cuts.
Mix together butter and Ranch dressing mix. Pour over bread.
Wrap the entire loaf in foil and place on a baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Unwrap. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Fudge brought me back...

It has been a while since my last post. Between work, the holidays, winter blahs and everything else, the Thought Factory has suffered.

As the title of this post suggests... fudge brought me back. That and some nudging by some peeps that it had been a while since my last post ; )

Let's dial back a little and do a little confessing as to what has also eaten up a lot of my time. Hmm.. could it be Pinterest, and the copious amounts of time I spend clicking the "Repin" button on images and ideas that I easily become enamoured with? If it wasn't for my eyes burning and my body telling me to shut itself down because it's past midnight, I'd keep on clicking the "See More Pins" at the bottom of the browser that winks at me, trying to reel me in. If I'm being honest right now, there's another window open on the browser... and you got it right, Pinterest is open right now.

Anyways, as I feverishly pinned as much as I could onto my "Food Porn" board, I came across a multitude of recipes for fudge, and I soon craved that sweet creamy and granular morsel. But where would I get fudge at this time? Oh wait! And I suddenly remembered a microwave fudge recipe someone had emailed to me years ago. Digging through my pantry, I found everything I needed and prepared all the ingredients since I needed to move fast when assembling. And no joke, from start to finish, I had fudge ready in a pan.. cooling.. in 20 minutes. Defying all my will power to just wait until the next day, I threw the pan in the fridge to quickly set it and cut a chunk out the minute I could release it. It was like we were meeting for the first time... fudge and I. It held me like I held it. I added the recipe at the bottom... and yeah, it's a lot of sugar .. but you know what, if you're going to judge, get the heck out of here and don't come back! Fudge and I don't need you.

So, there you go...fudge brought me back. And the thought factory and I have some catching up to do. So many pictures of food on my camera with no where to go but the intraweeb.

Microwave Fudge

* You need to be really quick as things set fast once they are out of the microwave

2 cups packed brown sugar
1 can condensed milk
3/4 cup butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 caramilk bars (you can use 4.. but who are you kidding? 2 more, really?)

Microwave 1st 3 ingredients 8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes
Add vanilla & icing sugar; mix with mixer for 2-4 minutes, or until smooth
Place 1/2 mixture into well greased (use butter) 8x8 pan
Lay caramilk bars on the mixture
Put the rest of mixture on top and smooth with spatula

Chill and cut into squares to serve... or dig right in there if that's what you want.