Instructions: Melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water or the top of a double boiler.

Make sure you dont get even a drop of water in the chocolate. Stir frequently with a spatula while doing the following steps and remove it from the hot water just as soon as its melted.

Melt the butter. Mix together the powdered sugar, the melted butter and the vanilla. Dont bother sifting the powdered sugar. Just stir everything together with a wooden spoon until its smooth and creamy. Stir in the peanut butter. This will break most flimsy wooden spoons if youre not careful. Mushing everything together with your hands works well and is lots of fun.

Press the fudge into a buttered 8 or 9 square pan. You dont need much butter, just wipe the butter papers over the inside of the pan. You can also line the pan with foil and butter that; this works especially well if youre making several batches in a row to give to people as holiday presents. Press the fudge in firmly; you dont want any air bubbles in it.

You will get your hands messy here.

Pour the chocolate over the fudge and spread it in an even layer. The easiest way to do this is to shake the pan gently until the chocolate is even. Let the chocolate cool to room temperature. DO NOT PUT IT IN THE REFRIGERATOR.

Using a sharp knife cut the fudge into 1 squares. If you defied my instructions and put it in the refrigerator, the chocolate layer will shatter when you try to cut it. Unless you are going to serve it immediately, store it in the refrigerator. Let it come to room temperature before serving.

Again, dont scrimp on the peanut butter! Skippy simply will not do.

NOTES:
* An extremely rich candy - I got this recipe from a friend, Ed Firestone, who is arguably the best cook in Palo Alto. The results resemble Reeses Peanut Butter Cups that have attained Nirvana. Dont scrimp on the peanut butter; get the best you can find or make it yourself. If theres anything besides peanuts and salt in it, find another brand.

* Unless you use the foil method, you will inevitably destroy at least one piece getting it out of the pan. The best method is to line the pan with foil, let the fudge cool, lift it out, peel off the foil, put it back in the pan and cut it. This keeps it from sticking to the pan. If you try to cut it out of the pan, it tends to fall apart.

Difficulty: moderate.

Time: 20 minutes preparation, 15 minutes cooling.

Precision: no need to measure.

You got peanut butter on my chocolate!

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