Not quite sure how I feel about this one. Velveeta in fudge??

A couple weeks ago a super nice woman that works with my husband - who knows I love to bake - handed me a recipe and said, It's gonna gross you out, but trust me, it's really good. The recipe was called peanut butter cheese fudge. Interesting. Always up for a challenge, I accepted. Until I scanned the first ingredient: half pound of Velveeta.

I think my skin crawled and I wretched. Velveeta in fudge?! She said she thinks it was a Paula Deen recipe, that it may be a "southern thing." Turns out, it just might be.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb sliced easy-melt cheese (recommended: Velveeta)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped nuts
2 (16 ounce) boxes confectioners’ sugar

Directions

Lightly spray the bottom of a 9 by 2-inch square pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt cheese and butter together, then add peanut butter and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and add vanilla and nuts.
Empty confectioners’ sugar into a large bowl and pour cheese mixture over sugar. Stir until completely mixed. Candy will be very stiff.
Using your hands, remove candy from the bowl and press evenly and firmly into the pan. Because of the amount of butter in this recipe, pat top of candy with a paper towel to remove excess oil. Place the pan in refrigerator until candy is firm.

To serve, cut into squares.
Servings: 36 squares
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: Allow 15-20 minutes to cool in refrigerator
Difficulty: Easy
Show: Paula's Home Cooking/ Nov/Dec 2005 issue

Had to run to the grocery store to grab some crunchy peanut butter (we're a smooth peanut butter kinda family) and, the V word. I think I actually whispered to the friendly clerk, "Velveeta" while glancing around to make sure we were alone. Aisle 5. Noted. One pound box of Velveeta was smaller than I thought. Shew!

Began the process by melting a full cup of butter (2 sticks) and chopped up the pasteurized processed cheese spread and adding it to the pan to melt as well.

Eventually it began to melt and congeal as I stirred.

The amount of oil was just plain frightening.

Mixed in the peanut butter and it mixed and stirred nicely. You are almost done at this point. Wow, that was easy.

Then comes the absurd amount of powdered sugar. I have never made fudge before. Is this typical?

Mix it all together trying not to let your children see lest they want to actually ingest it.

Simple enough. Then just put it in a 9" square pan. Slather it a bit. Then into the fridge it goes.

It was actually fine. As I was cutting it in teeny tiny squares I had a crumb or two. It was actually very good. The recipe even mentions the crazy amount of oil and probably needing to wipe some off the top when you put it in the dish, but I didn't have that problem. Which is a amazing, because....

Until I began typing this - five minutes ago - I never realized the recipe only called for HALF a pound of Velveeta. Whoa! That makes a huge difference. No wonder I was so grossed out. I wonder if I'll ever make it again to find out.

Well, I just came across this, uh, interesting, picture. So why don't we all just ponder on this bizarreness of this picture and then the idea of making fudge with Velveeta won't seem so bizarre after all!