Creamy peanut butter fudge filled with chunks of Oreo cookies is an irresistible favorite on any dessert table. The simple peanut butter fudge is made with just four ingredients before being generously filled with Oreos.

4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Fudge

So before my friends stage an intervention over my love of all things fudge and specifically peanut butter fudge I HAVE to share this recent version with you.

It really doesn’t get much easier than my classic four-ingredient fudge recipe. Butter, peanut butter, powdered sugar and a dash of vanilla. For ease of making and amazing richness, you will be hard-pressed to find a better one.

While I have been making this specific peanut butter fudge recipe for over 10 years now, it is fun to mix it up sometimes with other ingredients. Hence the Oreos.

Oreo Fudge

The beauty of this 4 ingredient peanut butter fudge recipe is not only is it easy but it is easy to scale. Just want a small batch, cut it in half. Making treats to share during the holidays go ahead and double it. It is not a finicky recipe in that regard.

Side note – if you watch the above video for the peanut butter fudge it was made with a HALF recipe for this fudge. The recipe can easily be halved or doubled or multiplied however you like.

As pictured in the video, the fudge should be firm and almost crumbly when mixed together and pressed into the pan. It should not be liquid at all.

This simple four-ingredient recipe is made with real butter. (5 ingredients with the Oreos.) The results can’t be guaranteed if you choose to substitute margarine or another butter alternative. The fudge might be greasy and might not even set up without the original ingredients.

4 Ingredient PB Fudge

• butter
• creamy peanut butter
• vanilla
• powdered sug

How the picture society paints of a ‘fairytale ending’ could be preventing women from finding their freedom

In 1981, Colette Dowling wrote The Cinderella Complex: Women’s Hidden Fear of Independence, a book which explored the whys and ways a woman might fear going at it alone, and have an innate desire to be ‘rescued’ by a man. In an accompanying article published in The New York Times the same year, she explored how her divorce, and the struggles she had with independence following it, became the inspiration for the book, and wrote: “I came to the conclusion that psychological dependence – the conscious or unconscious wish to escape responsibility – was the unidentified element in the conflict many women are experiencing today. It leads to a condition I call the ‘Cinderella Complex’.”

As Colette Dowling saw it, the consequences of women being raised to be dependent on a man can lead to self-sabotaging behaviours, particularly those linked to success and happiness. You might put off personal goals and targets in order to maintain stability, or you might quickly jump from one relationship to the next to feel safe.

Now, it’s fair to say that attitudes have moved on in the past 40 years, and generations of women have since grown up in a different world. But still, elements of this patriarchal structure do exist, and conversations around dependency and independence in relationships are still of the utmost importance.

When asked where the feelings and behaviours described by Colette Dowling might have come from, counsellor Amy Preston first makes the point that the need to rely on other is a fundamental part of being a human being.

“In the context of the so-called ‘Cinderella Complex’, the expectation of having all our needs met by another person might evolve in a childhood where caregivers were overprotective and met financial needs, while leaving emotional ones unmet,” Amy explains. “If you were wrapped up in cotton wool, yet found it difficult to connect and feel validated by your caregivers, you may not have received the message that you are worthy, capable, and important. As an adult, you may have internalised the message that, not only is an appropriate level of independence unfamiliar and frightening, you are fundamentally incapable of achieving it.”

Amy goes on to explain how we live in a fairytale culture, where it’s very normal to talk about your partner as being your ‘everything’ or the one who ‘completes’ you. “We expect our partner to fill a number of different roles: to make us happy, to complete us, to save us from our past, and to rescue us from uncomfortable emotions. On a subconscious level, this cements the belief that we cannot be happy unless we have a partner to take away all of our pain.”

These beliefs come with baggage. They pile pressure on our relationships, restricting our ability to grow inside and outside of the relationship, and also, as Amy points out, can lead us to overlook potential ‘red flags’ in order to maintain the fairytale.

All that said, in 2022, the concept of a ‘Cinderella Complex’ isn’t totally comfortable. The same systems can cause men to over-rely on partners, yet they escape comparable labels. And while there is certainly space to break down

2 Ingredient Pancakes have been showing up all over the internet lately. Low carb pancakes that are easy to make, and tasty as can be, we’ve been making these 2 Ingredient Cream Cheese Pancakes for years.

Amazingly thin and delicate, these cream cheese pancakes are much closer to a crepe than a traditional thick and fluffy pancake. I like these pancakes best when simply dusted with powdered sugar, but by all means, try my buttermilk syrup.

They are also delicious when drizzled with maple syrup or honey, or you can go crazy and put peanut butter and jelly on top. Whatever floats your boat and your diet works here.

(Lemon Curd would be amazing too, just saying.)

These simple low carb pancakes are a completely different kind of breakfast treat, and I loved them from the first bite. My kids did too. They don’t care if they’re low carb or not, they just want them as often as I’m willing to make them.

I first stumbled across this Cream Cheese Pancake recipe about ten years ago over at I Breathe I’m Hungry. I whipped them up the very next morning for much smaller boys than I have now, and they’ve been a regular item on our meal plan ever since.

2 Ingredient Pancakes

Having now tried the popular 2 ingredient banana pancakes as well, I can tell you beyond any doubt that 2 ingredient pancakes made without banana are my favorite hands down.

These delicate cream chee