In March, a congressman offered his mother’s homemade fudge on eBay.

Everyone and their grandmother has a recipe for fudge, but the best one comes from a congressman’s mother in York, Penn. Or so says President George W. Bush. In 2003, he was on Air Force One with U.S. Representative Todd Platts, who bragged that his mom made the best fudge in the world.

Bush took him up on the boast and tried the fudge on the eve of the State of the Union address. He liked it so much that he hand wrote a thank-you letter:

Dear Babs,
Thanks for the fudge, it was great. If you see me running mile after mile after television, please know you’re the cause.

Besides being an insider’s secret amongst politicians (like John McCain, the speaker of the house and a local mayor), “Babs” Platts presents her fudge to new neighbors and friends in nursing homes. This March, you could even buy it on eBay when Auction Inn, a local fund raising organization, sold it.

The fudge is coveted by many but obtained by a few. Luckily, I found the recipe in a regional magazine, Susquehanna Style. The secret is Jif peanut butter and marshmallow cream from Weis supermarket. Non-Pennsylvanians will have to make do without that brand of fluff, but I second the Jif recommendation. It’s my favorite commercial brand of peanut butter because of the deep, molasses flavor. I haven’t had a chance to try the recipe yet, so I’m taking all this by faith.

Regardless of how you feel about politics or the election tomorrow, you have to love the homey story behind this fudge. When I spoke to Platts for an AP story about weird foods appearing on eBay, it was clear that he’s a family man. Some people carry pictures of their kids in their wallet; Platts lets his 10-year-old son record his voicemail greeting on his cell phone. It goes something like, “Hi, this is Todd Platts’ son. He’s not here right now, so leave a message.” Even though it’s two years old, Platts won’t dare delete it because he thinks it’s perfect. How cute is that?

This picture has nothing to do with this post, but I made you look!

Over the past months, I’ve been adding some extra features, which I hope you like. If you’re reading this blog through a feed, come on over and see what’s new.

You can contact me through this nifty form! I no longer display my e-mail address to protect myself from spam. I thought the form would make people think they were writing to a black hole, but now I get more letters than ever. Keep them coming! I love your feedback.

If you ever wanted to know more about me than “Jessica Su is a writer in New York who loves to share desserts with her friends,” check out the About page. I list more about my culinary and journalistic background. There’s also guidelines if you want to submit products to be covered on this site.

You can easily print, e-mail and share individual posts. If you’ve ever wanted to save something to del.icio.us or StumbleUpon, you don’t even have to leave the site.

You can easily find this site’s most popular posts in the sidebar. There’s some algorithm that figures this out, but I bet the mock Nutella recipe will be there for a while. BTW, I made an amazing improvement that I’ll share with you guys soon.

This blog is now called Su Good Sweets instead of Su Good Eats. It makes sense, since I blog about dessert anyway. In the beginning, Su Good Sweets only referred to my “business” where I sold cookies, cakes and nut butter. To differentiate the blog, I called it Su Good Eats. I have decided to close down the baking business because it was a lot to handle. Before you express shock, know that my orders have gradually been decreasing anyway. The last time I made macaroons was months ago. There are a couple people who occasionally want homemade cashew, chocolate-hazelnut and peanut butter. I’m happy to still fulfill those orders, but gone are the days of catering three cakes and three dozen cookies for a party. I was only operating with one oven and one baker!

What do you think of these changes? What would you like to see more/less of?

If you are a food blogger, I can almost guarantee that this insidious person has ripped off your posts. This person has no original content but only copies hundreds of posts (and steals bandwidth) without giving credit. At least three of my entries have appeared word for word on this site. Some prominent victims include Martha Stewart, David Lebovitz, Yum Sugar and Delicious Days. I notified Blogger, and they’re still looking into it.

If your site is being copied, here’s what you can do (via Google’s copyright guidelines).

1.Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has been infringed upon. This post must include identification of the specific posts, as opposed to entire sites. Posts must be referenced by the permalink of the post. For example, “The copyrighted work at issue is the text that appears on http://johndoe.com/test/2006_01_01.html#2106.

2. Identify the material that you claim is infringing the copyrighted work listed in item #1 above.

YOU MUST IDENTIFY EACH POST BY PERMALINK OR DATE THAT ALLEGEDLY CONTAINS THE INFRINGING MATERIAL. The permalink for a post is usually found by clicking on the timestamp of the post. For example, “The blog where my copyrighted work is published on is http://copyright.blogspot.com/archives/2006_01_02_example.html.”

3. Provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Google to contact you (email address is preferred).

4. Include the following statement: “I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted material described above on the allegedly infringing web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.”.

5. Include the following statement: “I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”

6. Sign the paper.

7. Send the written communication to the following address:

Google, Inc.
Attn: Google Legal Support, Blogger DMCA Complaints
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

OR fax to:

(650) 618-2680, Attn: Blogger Legal Support, DMCA Complaints

Ever since Sept. 1, there’s been a sharp decline of people accessing this site through feed readers (ie Bloglines, Thunderbird). I thought I fixed the problem, but my web stats don’t reflect that. If www.sugoodsweets.com/blog/feed or www.sugoodsweets.com/blog/feed/atom still aren’t working for you, please leave a comment or e-mail me. Or, if they are working, please let me know too.

Squash season is here, and what better way to start off the day than zucchini pancakes? There’s plenty of savory versions a la potato cakes or mock crab cakes. Mine are traditional flapjacks that go with maple syrup. Vegetables actually make pretty good "dessert," kind of like carrot cake. Try these sweet zucchini pancakes that can easily be veganized.

After meeting Shuna from Eggbeater yesterday, I decided to add a long overdue recipe index to this site. Over a dinner of pierogies and latkes at Veselka, we talked about how to increase traffic to our blogs. As a pastry chef, she’s meticulous. As a blogger, she’s no different!

Obviously, everyone comes here for the food. Most come for the chocolate-hazelnut butter recipe (very similar to Nutella). One person even came after searching, “is Nutella good for you.” Another stumbled here after searching, “why does my steamed bun dimpled when i remove the cover of the steamer?” (sic) Sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Dimpled Bun. I don’t have an exact answer, but I’d guess the buns collapse after they lose heat. It’s the same reason why souffles fall and get wrinkly when you remove them from the oven.

To optimize my site for search engines and to help people find what they need, I’ve listed all my recipes on one page. Soon, Now you’ll be able to sort them by category.

Don’t forget, Cinco de Mayo is coming up! Why don’t you celebrate by making some churros?

Graphic: Candy Blog

Also, the deadline for commenting on the FDA’s proposed change on chocolate has been extended to June 25. If you don’t comment, they’ll be able to label Crisco and cocoa powder as “chocolate.” The proposal also has other sneaky add-ins, like substituting enzyme-modified egg yolks (what the heck is that?) in place of regular egg yolks. After poisonous dog food additives were traced to China, is the U.S. headed down the same road? Please tell the FDA to stop messing with our food.

Sarah at Avenue Food asked me to participate in the “Five Things You Didn’t Know Me” meme, so here goes.

1. I started this blog as a way to procrastinate from work, but it “backfired.” I’m a journalist by profession, and I’ve always wanted to do feature writing. Unfortunately, staff writers are far and few; most writers are freelancers who develop specialties, think of ideas, pitch editors and follow up. That sounded hard, so I started this blog to put off work. Then it dawned on me that I knew a lot about food, and I should try writing about it, professionally. When I pitched editors, I had a bunch of professional clips on court cases and movies, but nothing on food. So, I told them about my blog, and it led to assignments from Chow.com and the AP. To this day, I’m amazed at how well-received this blog has been.
2. The three foods I missed most when I vacationed in Paris were whole grains, soy foods and peanut butter. Generally, the French style of eating is healthy (French Women Don’t Get Fat stresses lots of produce and good quality, portion-controlled desserts). Salads just taste better in Paris, and I had the best cake of my life at Pierre Herme. But the French aren’t that into whole wheat bread. The first meal I ate after my week long trip last year was a PB&J sandwich on whole wheat bread and a glass of soy milk. Heaven.
3. My culinary pet peeve is untoasted nuts. Growing up, I always hated nuts. Then I learned that I’d only had bad nuts. Raw nuts are like soggy balls of fat. When they’re toasted, they transform into something completely different. The fragrant oils release, and they become crunchy. Now I LOVE nuts, but only if they’re fresh and toasted. But in my book, even the best nuts are not allowed in chocolate chip cookies or brownies.
4. I don’t like babies. They’re so fussy, and they cry all the time.  Everyone says I’ll change my mind when I get older, but that hasn’t happened.  You know how people fawn over newborns? I could never understand the fuss, but I can’t resist dogs.
5. Chocolate is my undoing. I can give up almost any food if I really wanted to. (I eat vegan most of the time for health and environmental reasons, but I’m a social omnivore.) If I don’t eat some form of chocolate almost every day, I’ll go crazy.

Now, I tag Kelli of Lovescool to participate!

More food related posts are to come! I’ve been backlogged.

Sorry for the lack of updates. Life has taken hold, and I’m working on freelance food articles. There’s a lot of posts in development here. When I get a moment, I’ll talk about the famous Chez Panisse gingersnaps, NYC Chocolate Show, French Culinary Institute grapefruit dessert demo and how to get a crispy pizza crust without a stone. Until then, here’s an all-natural chocolate-hazelnut spread recipe (a la Nutella) that I developed a while ago.

Also, I’m getting on my soapbox, but this Rolling Stone article about pork is why I’ve severely limited my consumption of animal products. Smithfield Foods, the nation’s biggest pork producer, generates more poop than all of Manhattan. Not only is it bad for the environment, but people who live nearby have to breathe it in. The poop that is collected is mixed with stillborns and antibiotic syringes. Even if you love bacon, please be aware of where it comes from. Boycott Smithfield! Write a hate letter!

Pop quiz: what does Cinco de Mayo have to do with the French? First, it marks the Mexican victory over the French troops in the Battle of Puebla. (If you thought it was Mexican independence day, you were wrong.)

Second, and more relevant to this blog, Cinco de Mayo marks the day to eat a French-inspired dessert. Perhaps Mexico’s most famous pastry is the churro, a deep-fried, cinnamon-dusted dough. It is not a Mexican doughnut. It is an unfilled Mexican cream puff.

Doughnuts traditionally fall into two schools: yeast-raised (ie Krispy Kreme) or cake batter (ie Dunkin Donuts, which gets its leavening by baking powder or soda). Churros contain neither yeast nor baking powder/soda. Instead, they are leavened by eggs, and the dough is cooked on the stovetop before it’s shaped. Heating the liquid with the flour tricks the dough into abosorbing more moisture, and it makes it more gelatinous. This method is the same as the French dough, pate a choux. Pate a choux makes cream puffs and eclairs, but if it’s deep fried and unfilled, it makes churros.

Deep frying gets a bad rap because the food is “boiled” in fat. However, if the oil is at the correct temperature, it will not penetrate the food. Besides health reasons, frying seems dangerous, with the potential of splattered hot grease and exploding food. Just use some common sense, and it won’t be any scarier than a pot of boiling water. Don’t go “bombs away!” when dropping the food in. Plop it in gently and away from you. The oil won’t bite. I promise.

Churros
Sources: Recipe Gullet, Bon Appetit and Mexico One Plate at a Time by Rick Bayless

Dough:
1 c milk
1/4 c (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 T sugar
1 c all-purpose flour
2 eggs

Coating:
1/2 c sugar
1/2 T cinnamon

Canola oil for frying, about 3 cups

Bring first 4 ingredients to boil in heavy medium saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves and butter melts. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add flour; stir vigorously with wooden spoon until shiny dough mass forms, about 1 minute. Transfer to large bowl; cool 5 minutes. Using electric mixer, beat in eggs, 1 at a time; continue beating until smooth, shiny, sticky paste forms. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.)

Heat oil to a depth of at least 2 inches in a heavy large skillet over medium heat to 350°F (the oil will shimmer on the surface and give off that characteristic hot oil aroma). Working in batches, spoon batter into pastry bag fitted with large star tip. Pipe batter into hot oil in 3 1/2- to 4-inch-long ribbons (use knife if necessary to cut batter at end of star tip) and allow batter to slide into oil.

To test the oil temperature, cook one churro, turning occasionally, until it is deep golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove it to drain on paper towels and let it cool a minute, then break it open to check for doneness-it should be just a little soft inside, but not too doughy. Too low an oil temperature, and the churros will “boil” in the oil, absorbing grease but bursting apart before they’re brown; too high a temperature, and they’ll brown quickly but not cook enough.

Fry the rest of the churros, about 3 at a time. Transfer to paper towels and cool 5 minutes, then toss in cinnamon sugar while still warm. Best when eaten quickly. Makes about 12-16 churros.

Notes/tips:
If you’re inexperienced with frying, be sure to do a test churro. Otherwise, you may find out too late that the entire batch is either raw inside or overcooked.

You can safely re-use the oil after you let it cool, strain it through a cheesecloth (to get rid of burnt food particles) and refrigerate (oil doesn’t like heat or light). Keep in mind that every time you re-use oil, the smoke point goes down as much as 10 F. For example, canola oil has a smoke point of 400 F. Heat it any more, and it breaks down and becomes hazardous to your health. Canola oil that’s used a second time can safely be heated to 390 F. If your oil turns dark or smells funny, it’s bad.