We considered lots of recipe options for Sunday’s party, and we were ultimately won over by Giada for both options–fudge and deviled eggs. (We totally branched out with our third recipe pick, but I forgot to make that one at the last minute, so we don’t need to talk about that.)

What won us over?  Well, it was the cinnamon in the fudge and the meat in the deviled eggs.  I’m really glad it wasn’t the cinnamon in the deviled eggs and the meat in the fudge.  Nope.  Oh, and we also wanted to pick out recipes that we wouldn’t be cooking up moments before people arrived.

It turns out Scott is good at making fudge, and I’m not good at peeling hard-boiled eggs.  Fortunately my egg deficit didn’t hurt anything in the flavor department.  Are you also looking for ways to take the attention off of your uneven deviled egg bases?  Might I recommend Giada’s Eggs Benedict Deviled Eggs?  The Canadian bacon is distracting in a good way.

I didn’t know that deviled eggs really need to sit for a few hours before you serve them.  Turns out the recipe isn’t joking around when it tells you to let them hang out in the fridge.  Huh.  Our eggs were kind of bland at first, but they were super tasty a few hours later.  Thankfully we had a friend who knows about these things at the party, so I learned that this is one time you don’t want to skimp on the fridge resting time.

Then there was Giada’s Cinnamon-Chocolate Fudge.  Sure, the picture is fuzzy, but that’s just because I was so excited about getting to the eating part of the evening.

It’s easy to make this the night before you need it, and I personally like that it gets cut into almost bite-sized pieces.  How bad can 5 bites of fudge really be for you?  The pile of fudge in your fridge the next week?  That might kill you, but it’s a delicious way to go.

P.S.  I like Peanut’s random “keeping watch” poses.  A lot.  Here, he’s demonstrating his very best “Snoopy/Vulture” pose.