Monday, January 27, 2014

Old-Fashioned American Hot Fudge Sauce

The closest that most people have come to having proper old-fashioned American hot fudge is a fast food ice cream sundae or a store-bought microwaveable bottle of hot fudge topping. You might not be aware that it's possible to do much better. But it is.

Jar of homemade hot fudge sauce.
A jar of homemade hot fudge sauce, which tastes nothing like what you can buy in any store.

Imagine hot fudge with the taste and texture of a block of chocolate fudge, except in thick liquid form. You know the fudge that you get on beach boardwalks and at theme parks? It'll be a thick syrup version of that. 

This recipe isn't 100% perfect because I cobbled together the ingredients from what we already had at home, but it's very good. If I were to do it over again:
  1. I'd add honey to help inhibit crystallization, since it may be a bit grainy for some (although I happen to like the graininess, which makes it even more reminiscent of candy store fudge).
  2. I'd also try making this with whole milk or even heavy cream instead of 2% milk.
This recipe was developed in the Greenfeld Test Kitchen this week. Consider it a first iteration.

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tbsp butter
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of 2% milk
1 tbsp vanilla
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder

Melt butter in saucepan on medium heat. I like to brown it carefully for a minute or so after it melts. Just be careful not to go overboard with browning the butter.

Bring the heat down to medium-low. Add the other ingredients. Stir the mixture constantly until the chocolate chips have melted. I use a silicone spatula for this. Once everything is mixed and the chocolate chips have melted, bring the heat back up to medium.

Hot fudge sauce, at the start of the confectionery process.

At this point, the mixture should be smooth and thin. Here the color is lighter than expected, but it will soon darken into a richer, more familiar fudge color.

The temperature of the mixture should rise. Keep an eye on it, stirring it every now and then. Use the silicone spatula to scrape the sides of the saucepan down regularly.

Hot fudge boiling in a saucepan.

Observe the confectionery process. As the mixture increases in temperature, changes to color and viscosity will appear.

When it rises to 220 degrees, bring it down to medium-low. Watch it carefully as the temperature continues to rise. As soon as it hits 225 degrees, turn off the heat. Your hot fudge is ready to serve.

Now, get your ice cream out and scoop it into bowls. Spoon the hot fudge over the ice cream generously. It will thicken as it cools, transforming into a slightly chewy texture that is fun to eat.

Bowl of candy cane ice cream, topped with homemade hot fudge.

Close-up showing the grainy texture of the resulting fudge sauce, which looks and tastes similar to candy shop fudge.

Danny and I poured this over holiday candy cane ice cream. The combination was perfect.