Baking fail

The weekends are the best time for me to try out new recipes. So this Saturday morning, before I went to the gym, I decided to try a new recipe that I had brewing in my mind for a couple of weeks. I called it: pumpkin spice fudge, and it was going to be the easiest pumpkin spice fudge recipe you had ever seen!

I mulled the recipe around in my head on and off for two weeks, and the more I thought about it, the more I convinced myself it would work and become my new favorite fudge recipe. I envisioned people reading the article, trying it out, and then leaving comments on my food blog as to how wonderful and easy the recipe was.

Typically, when I make my fudge, I make the no-bake kind. I am all about easy and tasty recipes. Just in case you haven't caught on to that already.

This is how I make my no-bake fudge:

1 bag of chocolate chips, semi-sweet

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add all three ingredients into a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup and cook in the microwave for 1 minute.

Stir and cook in increments of 30 seconds, stirring between each until everything is all melted together with no lumps.

Pour mixture into a non-stick foil lined 8x8 baking dish and pop it in the fridge to set. SUPER easy and SUPER good!

I concocted this pumpkin spice fudge recipe in my head, following the same directions as above but using the following ingredients:

1 bag of white chocolate chips

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Sometimes when I come up with recipes that I JUST KNOW will work, I publish them right away on my food blog. But, this one, for some reason, I was unsure about and wanted to test it first. It's a good thing I did! It was a complete disaster.

Apparently, there are more semi-sweet chocolate chips in a bag than there are white chocolate chips. And even though I know that white chocolate chips really aren't chocolate at all, I still thought this would work.

The chips did not melt properly. They were all lumpy, and it was a liquid mess. It smelled fantastic, but that did not matter. It would not mix or set, so I labeled it a flop.

Thankfully, this doesn't happen too often. I can't remember the last time I came up with a recipe, and it was a disaster as this one was. Well, we live and learn. What exactly did I learn, you might ask? Let me tell you:

Go with your gut. Chances are, it is correct!

White chocolate chips do not melt as well as semi-sweet chocolate chips.

There are fewer white chocolate chips in a bag than there are dark chocolate chips.

The recipe may have been more likely to work had I used pumpkin pie spice as opposed to pumpkin puree. Adding liquid to melting chocolate is a no-no.

Do some research about ingredients before trying to develop a new recipe.

Test your recipes if you are unsure.

Always shop for ingredients where you get the best prices: just in case you need to throw your food away (you won't feel as bad).

Sometimes taking a shortcut is not the ideal option.

Rather than making a no-bake white fudge recipe, try a cooked fudge recipe instead.

I think this was a great learning experience. Now, to come up with that pumpkin spice fudge recipe that works.