Husband leaves for business trip–I make cookies!  That seems fair.

Part of the deal in cleaning out the pantry is that the chocolate chips, butter, and sugar have to go, too.  Aw, shucks.  There was also a little something my Michigan readers might recognize.  It somehow got neglected in the fridge in the midst of our healthy eating efforts.  It comes in a box like this…

And inside it looks like this…

It’s the famous Mackinac Island Fudge.  For those of us not from the mitten state, Mackinac is pronounced “Mackinaw”.  Don’t ask why, I have no idea.  Here’s what they say about their fudge:

Our all natural ingredients make our Mackinac Island fudge the best there is. Our fudge is cooked in a hammered copper kettle and then worked and cooled on a 4-inch thick Italian marble slab to give it a smooth texture and mouth watering taste. The name Mackinac Island Fudge refers to a style of fudge that originates from Mackinac Island, MI.

Evidently it’s a big deal.  Michiganders seem to really, really like it.  So how could I improve on that?  This particular fudge had been in our fridge for a few months.  I’m a firm believer that chocolate never really goes bad.  I’ve been known to eat chocolate off a gingerbread house after it sat in a display case for a month.  It was awesome. My husband, however, is a little less adventurous.  Meaning, he wouldn’t be willing to eat the fudge now after it had been in the fridge for so long.  But maybe he’d eat it in cookies….

Start with a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe.  This one said it was the best, but use your favorite chocolate chip recipe.  The goal is to replace the chocolate chips with chopped up fudge.  For kicks, I also wanted to make these double chocolate chip by adding 1/4 cup cocoa powder to the cookie dough.  And for an added challenge, I’m out of white sugar and white flour and refuse to buy more due to the pantry challenge, so I substituted with agave nectar and wheat flour+almond flour.  And of course I don’t have walnuts so I used coconut.  As for the coffee vs. hot water, it just sounded way more interesting.  I couldn’t taste it, but I’ll convince myself that it did something special.  My ingredients list ended up looking like this:

Mackinac Island Fudge Cookies

Makes about 4 1/2 dozen

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup agave nectar (takes the place of 1 cup white sugar)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups wheat flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/3 cup coconut
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder (also helps make up for the added liquid in the agave nectar)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp hot coffee (or hot water)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups chopped fudge
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream together the butter, agave nectar, and brown sugar until smooth.  Mine never really got totally smooth thanks to some lumpy brown sugar and my lack of an electric mixer.  It’s all wooden spoon for this girl.  Then beat in the eggs one at a time and add the vanilla.  Dissolve baking soda in hot coffee or hot water.  Add to the batter along with the salt.  Stir in the flours, coconut, cocoa powder, chopped fudge, and chocolate chips.

3. Drop by small spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie pans.  I wanted small cookies so I wouldn’t feel bad about eating two.  Bake for 10-11 minutes in the preheated oven.   When they come out, give them 2-3 minutes to cool on the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.  The fudge gets a little melty, and we don’t want to lose any of it on the pan.

 

I used the Death by Chocolate flavor of fudge, but I can’t think of a type of fudge that wouldn’t be amazing in cookies.  Fudge is pretty good on its own, but in case you find yourself with a plethora, or it’s age has become slightly questionable, putting it in cookies will always be a good option.  Or brownies.

Now the big question: Do I share them with the husband when he returns?