Peppermint Fudge

What You Need:

• Small saucepan
• 9 x 9 baking pan
• Tinfoil
• 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• Spatula
• Measuring spoons
• 1 12-ounce bag chocolate chips
• ¼ t peppermint extract
• 2 candy canes
• Rolling pin
• Zip-top plastic bag
• Butter knife

What You Do:

1. Ask your child to open the sweetened condensed milk and use a spatula to remove the sweet, creamy milk out of the can and into the saucepan.
2. Next, she can turn the heat to medium and add the bag of chocolate chips. Your child can use the spatula to give a good stir, helping things to melt smoothly.
3. She can use the measuring spoons to measure and add the peppermint extract to the mix.
4. While waiting for everything to melt together, invite your child to line the baking pan with tinfoil. She can also unwrap the candy canes and place them in the plastic bag making sure to squeeze the air out of the bag and seal it tightly.
5. Now use the rolling pin to give the candy canes a good crush by rolling over them and tap, tap, tapping on them, creating crumbled bits of candy canes.
6. Once the condensed milk and chocolate chips have melted together smoothly, invite your child to use the spatula to put the fudge into the tinfoil lined baking pan. She can smooth the top with the spatula.
7. Sprinkle the top of the fudge with the bits of the candy cane and then place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to cool.
8. Now use a butter knife to cut the fudge into pieces and share with friends and family as a special holiday treat!

Did you know: the first candy canes were made in the late 1600’s? They were originally created as decorations for Christmas trees and were all white and plain sugar in flavor. It wasn’t until about 50 years later that the red strips appeared along with the peppermint flavoring.