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Real Hot Fudge Sundaes

Source of Recipe

From "Short and Sweet" by Gale Gand and Julia Moskin


Recipe Introduction

"I used to make this sauce in a five-gallon bucket when I was pastry chef at Chicago's famous Pump Room restaurant. We served 'The World's Smallest Hot Fudge Sundae' (one of my friend and partner Rich Melman's many brilliant ideas) and it was so popular that even though each mini-sundae used only two tablespoons of sauce, I had to make a huge batch every other day! For a more elegant occasion, simply pour the chocolate sauce over the vanilla ice cream at the table, leaving off the whipped cream and nuts. This is a good quick trick for entertaining: Homemade sauce and real whipped cream transform store-bought ice cream into a special dessert."

List of Ingredients

◦ 1 cup sugar
◦ 4 cups (1 quart) heavy cream
◦ � cup light corn syrup, such as Karo
◦ 4 ounces best-quality unsweetened chocolate, chopped
◦ 4 tablespoons (� stick) salted butter
◦ 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
◦ 1 pint vanilla ice cream, such as Ben & Jerry's World's Greatest Vanilla
◦ Chopped walnuts or peanuts, for sprinkling


Recipe

Combine the sugar, 3 cups of the cream, the corn syrup, chocolate, and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a very slow simmer and continue cooking, stirring often, until the mixture looks curdled (this is a sign that the cocoa butter and butterfat are separating from the other ingredients), at least 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the heat, whisk in the vanilla, and blend the mixture with a hand blender (or whisk it vigorously) to smooth it out. The sauce should be thick, smooth, and glossy.

Just before serving, reheat the sauce in a microwave or in the top of a double boiler set over simmering water and whisk until smooth. Whip the remaining 1 cup cold heavy cream into soft peaks.

Place two or three scoops of ice cream in each serving dish, pour the hot fudge sauce over, and top with whipped cream and chopped nuts. You will have plenty of sauce left over.

Makes 4 to 6 servings






❧ The sauce can be made and refrigerated up to 2 weeks in advance.