Disclaimer: I am not encouraging emotional eating, nor do I truly believe fudge makes everything better. It might make everything a little more bearable, but not better.
With that said, let’s get down to the nitty gritty… Hot Fudge Sauce! Although, I am not a big dessert eater, I rarely say, “no” to a good hot fudge sauce, which is why I rarely buy it. I would say, “yes” to it daily, and that is not a good thing.
Today, I made my third batch of homemade Hershey’s chocolate sauce (see post about my first attempt here), and I thought it might be fun to experiment by adding some cream and making the syrup into a hot fudge sauce. My youngest son was worried it would mess up the chocolate sauce, and he has a point as my experiments go awry on occasion. So I pulled 1/2 cup of chocolate sauce out and experimented.
The good news? My experiment was successful. The bad news? My experiment was successful. Now I know I can have hot fudge sauce any time I want. Hmm… Want to learn how to endanger your waistline, too? Here’s the recipe I used.
Thick, Rich Hot Fudge Sauce
Hot Fudge Sauce
Adapted from a Food.com recipe found here
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s)
dash of salt
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract (real is best)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Mix together sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium saucepan. Add water and whisk until the ingredients are well incorporated into the water. Turn heat on medium high. Heat until boiling, stirring constantly. Once the mixture comes to a boil, boil for 1 minute. After one minute, turn off heat. Add vanilla and stir into mixture. Turn stove back on to medium high heat, and whisk in cream a little at a time. Bring to a steady boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 2-3 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat. Serve and enjoy! You may store this in the fridge and heat up as needed.
Here’s my photo step-by-step.
I assembled my ingredients (minus the heavy whipping cream).
I measured the water, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt and put them in a saucepan.
I turned the heat on medium-high and began to whisk the ingredients together.
It took a couple of minutes, but soon enough it was smooth.
As the mixture heated through and as I stirred, the foamy bubbles on top began to disappear.
Shortly thereafter, the mixture began to boil. I turned the heat down to medium, so it wouldn’t boil over. I stirred the boiling mixture for one minute. Then, I turned off the heat.
It’s beginning to look like chocolate syrup, isn’t it? I let the mixture cool for a few minutes.
Next, I added the real vanilla extract and stirred it into the syrup.
After transferring most of the syrup to a jar, I measured the remaining syrup and found it was 1/2 cup.
I turned the heat back on to medium high. When the syrup started the simmer, I gradually added 3 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream, stirring with a whisk until it was incorporated.
Once the mixture was boiling, I started my timer and let it go for about 2 1/2 minutes when the syrup changed texture and got noticeably thicker. At this point, I removed it from the heat.
Note how the syrup coats the spoon. This is different than the Hershey’s syrup recipe which was a bit runny.
See? This is ice cream with knock-off Hershey’s chocolate syrup.
And this is the Hot Fudge Sauce. It coats the ice cream and thickens as it cools. It was so yummy!
What’s your favorite indulgence (which is bad for your waistline)?
Do you have a recipe you’d like to share with me?
Laurel Laurie Staten Nguyen Newhall, CA
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