Carrot Cake Cheese Cake Fudge

At one of the local farmer’s markets, there is a vendor who sells fudge, and one of the flavors she sometimes carries is Carrot Cake Cheesecake.  Well, Eammon just adored her fudge so we worked to replicate the recipe at home as a treat over the holidays.  Yes, another holiday recipe which only took us 4 months to finally post!  We dissected the farmer’s market fudge layer-by-layer and noted that the fudge was the cheesecake flavor and the bottom crust, even without any carrots, tasted like carrot cake.  So, we researched all sorts of recipes to finally come up with this one which is indistinguishable from the farmer’s market one he loved.  Though there are a few steps to the recipe, it is simple to execute and the results are worth the time.

Carrot Cake Cheese Cake Fudge

For the carrot cake base:

• 1 sleeve  Ritz Original crackers
• 1/2 cup butter 
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar , packed
• 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk 
• 1 tsp. vanilla  
• 1 tsp. cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 tsp.  ground nutmeg
• 1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

For the Cheesecake Fudge:

• 3 cups white chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter  
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 7 oz. Marshmallow Fluff (1-1/2 cups)
• 1 - 3.4 ounce instant cheesecake pudding mix, DRY

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line an 8x8-inch baking dish with aluminum foil and grease with butter or coconut oil.  Arrange the Ritz Crackers in a even layer on the bottom of the baking dish, breaking some to fill in all the gaps and overlapping as needed.  In a medium saucepan, bring butter and brown sugar to a boil over medium-high heat.  Once the mixture is at a FULL boil, cook for 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon, cocoa,  nutmeg & walnuts.  Pour the mixture over the crackers and bake for 10 minutes.  Set aside to cool while making the fudge.

In a medium saucepan combine the white chocolate chips, butter, salt and condensed milk and heat until melted and smooth. Add the dry pudding mix and stir until the mix dissolves and is smooth.  Add the Marshmallow Fluff and stir until melted and smooth. Pour the melted fudge over the crust and use an offset spatula to smooth. 

Refrigerate until set.  Carefully remove the fudge from the pan and peel back the foil.  Using a sharp knife which has been heated in a bowl of hot water and then wiped dry, cut the fudge into small squares.  Clean the knife between each cut with a dish towel and reheat it as necessary.   Store the fudge at room temperature.

Enjoy!