I have a treat for you today: My mom’s Dark Chocolate Hot Fudge Sauce (shown here on Vanilla Frozen Custard). This was one of her favorite recipes. She used to make it well in advance of dinner, and just leave it sitting on the stove with the spoon still in it from stirring in the vanilla. Oh, that spoon. I still have that spoon! It’s a really old spoon, from 1946 when my mom & dad got married. Yup, that’s it in the pictures.

I didn’t come to fully appreciate this sauce until I was a bit older – I preferred milk chocolate as a kid. Now, dark chocolate is my favorite. I don’t think I’ve ever made just a single batch; always a double batch for me! So unless you also make it double (really, why wouldn’t you?), your pots won’t look quite as full as in my photos. You’ll find a printer-friendly version of the recipe at the bottom of this page.

Ingredients:

2 ounces (57 g) unsweetened chocolate

1 tablespoon butter

⅓ cup (78 ml) boiling water

1 cup (198g) sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

1.) Melt chocolate & butter in double boiler. Stir well.

2.) Add the water; stir well.

Edit: Sometimes after adding the water, it looks more like this:

Don’t worry, it’s all good. Both will result in the same delicious sauce!

3.) Add sugar and corn syrup; stir. Remove from double boiler, and place the insert directly on the burner.

4.) Boil gently, covered, over direct heat for about 3 minutes. Do not stir.

5.) Uncover, reduce heat, and cook an additional 2 minutes without stirring.

6.) Stir in vanilla. Serve hot or at room temperature. Any leftovers may be refrigerated & kept up to a week (Ha! What’s a leftover? Good luck with that!) It’s quite thick when cold. Just microwave, or break out your double boiler again, to reheat.

“It’s like my mum said, ‘The soufflé isn’t the soufflé, the soufflé is the recipe.'” — Clara Oswald