Pending where you might live, if you’re in the northern hemisphere (and more specifically in the States), there’s something very traditional about the Labor Day weekend marking the end of the summer season.
Back home in the Northern Rockies, Labor Day weekend always presents an array of hard choices – participate in the various hunt seasons that have opened recently, fish the fall hatches that may or may not be cranking up pending the water year and how fast things are cooling off, or fire up the smoker and /or grill and throw a party and some sort of protein on the fire.
Most years some combination of the above takes place.
This year I was told invited to help on the dessert side as well; folks are bringing several freezers of homemade ice cream (vanilla bean, a salted caramel and peanut butter) to a shindig we’re attending. Somehow I was assigned the delivery of a ‘very good, homemade hot fudge sauce’.
We’ve dabbled a bit with chocolate sauces over the years, but I ended up bugging, pleading and eventually bribing a killer hot fudge sauce recipe out of chef friend Libby in Austin.
She’s scaled this recipe down for a smaller batch, says it’s killer with both the espresso and whiff of coffee liqueur, offered the pro tip of letting it cool down completely before covering and placing in the fridge if you’re making it a day or two before (keeps it from getting grainy).
Of course use good (at least decent) chocolate and make somebody else whip up a rich, custardy ice cream for that hot fudge sunday this weekend.
2/3 cup heavy cream
½ cup light corn syrup
Scant 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
¼ cup good unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
½ – 1 tsp. espresso powder
¼ tsp. salt
6 ounces good bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine, divided
2 tbsp. butter (unsalted)
1 tsp. vanilla or coffee liqueur
Start the magic. Combine the cream, corn syrup, cocoa, espresso powder, salt and half the chopped bittersweet chocolate in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the chopped chocolate has melted.
Keep stirring until just simmering, then turn the heat down and very gently simmer for another 5-6 minutes, stirring now and again.
Finish it up. Now stir in the butter, vanilla or liqueur and the rest of the chopped chocolate and stir until smooth as a riffle-free slick on the Missouri.
Serve it after it’s cooled down (should still be slightly warm) over a big bowl your best home-made, end of summer ice cream.
Enjoy.
