Valentines Day - treat them to the gift of fudge; plus Rachael Ray's 5 minute easy recipe

If you want to do something that impresses and you don't want to spend a lot of money, or time, then this is the recipe for you.

• can of sweetened condensed milk
• 12 oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate morsels
• 1 cup of butterscotch morsels or white baking morsels or peanut butter morsels
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• any glass or metal pie or cake pan will do
• sauce pan (preferably non-stick) & silicone spatula or wooden spoon

• Prepare the pie or cake pan by spraying with cooking spray or lining with foil.
• Put all ingredients in to the sauce pan.
• Turn on to low to medium-low heat.
• Stir constantly for five minutes or until all the ingredients are combined. You may need to use a whisk to get the butterscotch chips incorporated or if you use peanut butter chips then stir everything else really well then add the PB chips last and stir till they start to form swirls.
• Pour the melted fudge into the prepared pie or cake pan and let sit for five minutes.
• Once it has cooled a little then put it into the freezer for about one hour till it is set. It will be firm enough to cut by then or you can let it sit over night and cut the next day.

As you can see by the pictures above, I went out to take my husband his dinner and my kids started the fudge before I could take a picture of it in the prepared pan.

I used a glass pie pan, foil lined. You just need to turn it out onto a plate when it is set and remove the foil then cut. It dries and firms a little more over night. (If it lasts that long)

The picture to the right starts with the same fudge. After cutting, I rolled it into balls, rolled it in red sugar, pressed it with my thumb then pressed a heart into the fudge. I put them in cupcake wrappers, but you can alternatively put them into a small reusable plastic container or a small treat bag or box. You can even put them in zipper lock bags with valentines hearts on them.

Dollar stores always sell lots of different types of treat bags or boxes around Valentine's Day so make a trip to your local dollar store and find something unique.

Another idea is to get a votive candle holder, put a few treats in it and wrap with treat bag and ribbon. Don't forget to buy a box of votive candles as well. All of these items are available in dollar stores and discount stores so they are very inexpensive choices for gifting.