White Chocolate Fudge with Cranberries and Pistachios

I love my foodie friends. They force me to step out of my comfort zone. I'm not one to put fruit in my chocolate. Except for strawberries. There's just something special about a chocolate covered strawberry. OK, and Pineapple dipped in chocolate is to die for. And apples, yup, apples and chocolate go well together. But Cranberries?
When I think of Cranberries, I think of Thanksgiving and cranberry jelly or cranberry relish or my mom's cranberry-apple dish that she really needs to give a name to but the kids love!


So this month for the Chocolate Party the combination is Chocolate and Cranberries.

Chocolate Party

I started asking around, cranberries, chocolate, hummm, then I had a light bulb moment. Fudge! You can throw almost anything into fudge. Shugary Sweets is practically the queen of Fudge. You have to check out her Peanut Butter Fudge, this is no ordinary Peanut Butter Fudge, I promise, you'll drool on your keyboard when you see it. She even has a Cinnabon Fudge. Do I even need to say anything else about this one? So she's my go to girl for fudge.

She made an Apple Pie Fudge for our Apple Challenge recently. Looking over the recipe I knew I could easily just change out a few things and let me tell you...This fudge is amazing. For an 8x8 pan, it makes a ton! I took a plate over to our police department to share (get out of the house before I ate it all.) Most of them looked at me like I was crazy. A few just gave me "that smile" and politely took a piece. All it took was for one of them to take the first timid bite. I felt like I was in that old Life Cereal commercial. He likes it, he likes it, hey Mikey! They were all coming back for seconds, getting a piece to take home "for later," yeah right!

You won't be disappointed in this fudge, the colors are perfect for the holidays, the taste is out of this world, it would make a perfect gift...if you can bear to part with some.

White Chocolate Fudge with Cranberries and Pistachios
adapted from Shugary Sweets 

3 cups white chocolate chips
3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup butter
dash of salt
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped pistachios

Place chips in the bowl of your mixer. Have your whisk attachment ready to go. In a large (I used medium but it was close) saucepan, heat sugar, butter, salt and whipping cream till butter is melted, stirring occasionally over medium heat. Once butter is melted continue heating until you bring to a rolling boil. Continue boiling for 4 minutes (set a timer) stirring continuously. Watch that you don't let it boil over. If using a candy thermometer, the temperature should reach 230 degrees.

Pour hot sugar mixture into your mixing bowl and whisk on med speed for about 2 minutes, until all chocolate is melted. Add vanilla, cranberries and pistachios and stir, just till combined. Pour into a parchment lined 8 x 8 pan.

Let set until cooled then refrigerate for 2 hours until cooled. Remove fudge from pan using parchment paper to lift.  Slice and enjoy. Store in airtight container.

I'm sharing at some of these great parties!