A few days ago, in my quest to develop a recipe for the ultimate peanut butter ice cream, I stumbled upon this recipe for hot fudge sauce. And I can now say that I will never buy hot fudge sauce again!
But first things first. I’ve been craaaaaaving peanut butter ice cream for about a week now. But guess what? Peanut butter ice cream isn’t readily available here in the Netherlands. Sometimes, when I’m in luck, I can get my hands on some peanut buttery Ben & Jerry’s, but not this week. So what’s a girl to do? Well, make her own peanut butter ice cream, of course! And while I’m at it, I might as well make it the BEST peanut butter ice cream ever, right?
My thoughts exactly…
So here’s what I did. I first whipped up a very basic peanut butter ice cream, using only peanut butter, heavy cream, whole milk and a little vanilla. That’s from the top of my head, so there might have been something else in there too – wait, got it: sugar. There was also sugar in there….
Duuuuuh…. I’m such an airhead.
Anyway, I wasn’t really happy with the result. The ice cream lacked peanut butter flavor. Which is NOT what I want in peanut butter ice cream! On top of that, it just didn’t melt right. It kind of split as the ice cream melted. It wasn’t pretty. Or appetizing. So I ditched that recipe and decided to come up with a custard based ice cream recipe instead. Custard based ice cream is always better. ALWAYS!
But wait, I forgot to tell you something. I wasn’t just craving peanut butter ice cream, my heart (taste buds? tummy?) wanted peanut butter ice cream with some form of chocolate in it. That first batch of weird melting ice cream I made? I drizzled in some melted dark chocolate and stirred in a ton of milk chocolate chips. I wasn’t happy with that either… First of all, I didn’t like the whole milk-chocolate-peanut-butter combo. Normally I’m not such a chocolate purist, but apparently peanut butter ice cream has changed me. Needless to say, I loved the dark chocolate pieces! And yet, those little chunks bothered me. I wanted smooth ice cream! Chocolate included…
So I decided to go with a hot fudge swirl instead!
And that’s when I stumbled upon this recipe….
Now, I got to tell you, this recipe is EVERYWHERE! It’s like it’s gone viral, or something. It was originally published in Gourmet magazine in 2004, but now it’s all over the Internet! Just google ‘hot fudge sauce recipe’ and basically all you’ll find is this! Featured prominently on different food blogs and websites. It’s crazy!
Sure, there are a few (like two) other recipes for hot fudge sauce, but apparently most people like this recipe better. So I thought: why not give it a go?
I’m so glad I did! Making this stuff is really easy. And once you’ve tried it, you’ll never buy the bottled hot fudge sauce again! This homemade version is just soooooo much better! Plus plus plus: you can whip it up in less than 10 minutes! Just make sure you have Lyle’s Golden Syrup at hand. You’ll need it. At least, if you’re making my slightly adapted version. You can also use light corn syrup, instead. That’s what the original recipe calls for. But whenever a recipe calls for corn syrup, I use golden syrup instead. It’s just a lot yummier. Toastier. More caramelized. Better in every way!
So make sure to use it if you have it…
Oh, and you’ll also need heavy cream, chocolate, salt, cocoa powder (Dutch-processed), bittersweet chocolate, unsalted butter and vanilla. Oh wait, and sugar. Light brown sugar to be precise. The original recipe calls for dark brown sugar and light corn syrup, but as I was using Golden Syrup – which has a more pronounced flavor than regular old corn syrup – I figured I’d use the light brown sugar instead. You know, to even things out a bit. It worked perfectly! I’ve never had a better hot fudge sauce in my life!
Aaaanyway, where was I? Right, making yourself a jar of deliciousness. Well, throw the ingredients (well, most of them. Save half the chocolate, the butter and the vanilla) in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat. Stir to dissolve the chocolate. Allow to come to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the remaining ingredients and that’s it! You’re done! Where’s the ice cream?
Oh, about that. My peanut butter ice cream recipe is still in development. The last batch I made was ridiculously delicious and super creamy, but it was too thick for my ice cream maker. It just wouldn’t churn….
So stay tuned, peanut butter lovers!
- 160ml (or ⅔ cup) heavy whipping cream
- 180g (or ½ cup) Lyle's Golden Syrup
- 75g (or ⅓ cup) light brown sugar
- 30g (or ¼ cup) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 180g (or 6 ounces) bittersweet chocolate, chopped and divided
- 28g (or 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the cream, Golden Syrup, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Add half the chopped chocolate and heat over moderate heat, stirring to dissolve until the chocolate has melted, the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has began to bubble at the edges.
- Crank the heat down to low and cook the mixture for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from heat and stir in the remaining chocolate, the butter and the vanilla.
- Allow to cool to warm before serving.
- Sauce can be stored in an airtight container for a few weeks. Before serving, reheat the sauce by placing the jar in a few inches of hot water for a few minutes.
Jaroslaw says
I’m sure my recipe doesn’t compare with this one, but mine is lot less expensive and most people always have the ingredients.
1/2 cup butter
1 -1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup evaporated milk
dash of salt
Mix all ingredients except vanilla. Boil gently 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla. Pour into blender (carefully – it is very hot!) and blend 2 -4 minutes. Pour into microwaveable container as you will need to heat this after storing in refrigerator.
Have you made puff pastry? I have seen several youtubes that make it look pretty easy and it isn’t. I didn’t rush at all and the butter still came through the dough :(. Any hints? Thanks.
The Tough Cookie says
Thanks for sharing your recipe for chocolate fudge sauce, Jaroslaw! Can’t wait to try it. I’ve never made puff pastry myself, though I’ve been thinking about giving it a go these past couple of weeks. I’d love to learn how it’s done! Have you tried freezing the butter before using it? I’ve heard it’s a thing…