When I was a kid, we briefly resided with my great grandmother, Lottie. She was a magnificent woman and an incredible cook. I was quite young – about 5 or so, but I have some pretty vivid memories of the time we spent in her home.
I remember sitting at her dining room table and coloring for hours with the crayons she kept in an old coffee can, and an old fashioned rotary phone that sat on her perfectly organized desk. Her home was immaculate and I remember giggling every time she told me to keep my feet off of her davenport.
She had a drawer devoted to her beloved baking tools, and even went so far as to purchase a set of miniature tools just for me. She’d neatly pull my hair back and keep it out of my face with a babushka, and then put a ball of dough in front of me. We’d sit at the kitchen table for hours, rolling dough and cutting perfect circles with the top of a glass. Then we’d fill, fold, and crimp each of the dough circles to create the most amazing pierogies.
On summer evenings, we’d all load up into the car and head to the Old English Parlour, owned by the Lorain Creamery – a local dairy that still offered home milk delivery well into the 1980s! According to my great grandmother and my mom, the Old English Parlour had the absolute best raspberry ripple ice cream. While the Parlour offered a full menu, I don’t think we ever ordered anything but ice cream.
I was always a caramel sundae kind of girl, but I also remember snagging bites of my dad’s Tin Roof Sundaes that were slathered in the most incredible hot fudge sauce. Hot Fudge Sauce to write home about. Hot Fudge Sauce that I started dreaming about again a while ago.
This weekend, I needed hot fudge sauce for a recipe that I was photographing and decided to forgo the jar in my fridge and make my own. I rolled up my sleeves and took a walk down memory lane that was full of chocolate, caramel, whipped cream and maraschino cherries. What resulted is a fabulously decadent hot fudge sauce that will have you thinking you can open your own ice cream parlour.
Now I’m thinking I need to tackle the whole homemade pierogi thing next!
Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce
Yield: about 2 cups
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 oz quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extractDirections:
1. In a medium, heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine cream, corn syrup, brown sugar, cocoa, salt, and half of the chocolate. Bring the mixture to a boil. stirring until the chocolate pieces are completely melted.
2. Reduce heat and cook at a low boil, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add in butter, vanilla, and remaining chocolate and stirring until smooth. Allow the sauce to cool down before serving.
Notes:
- This recipe can be easily adapted to create new flavors. I added in 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract which yielded a subtle, smooth, minty flavor. I think orange extract would also be excellent.
- To store, cool sauce completely and chill in an airtight container within the refrigerator for up to one week.Recipe from Gourmet, February 2004 via Epicurious
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{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
I LOVE hot fudge sundaes!!
Oooooh, how I want this!
Phooey now I really want a sundae at 8 in the morning!!
Jamie this looks just fabulous!! Recipes like this are nice to have. You know…for when you need emergency sundae’s and stuff (yes, there IS such a think as an emergency sundae).
Loved hearing about you and your grandma. I’m anxiously awaiting that pierogi recipe!!
what a fabulous photo! You are amazing!
Oh, YUM. It’s totally normal to crave hot fudge sundaes at 9:30 am, right??
Oh such a wonderful recipe!! Brings back such luscious memories. My grandma owned the town bakery – we lived in a very small town. People came from everywhere to come to that small but wonderful bakery. I still have some of her cookie cutter sets, etc. my grandpa was a carpenter and he made her the most wonderful cooling racks. I am 57 years old now and I can still smell that bakery after school and remember the wonderful times I had there. Thank you so much for this wonderful memory of your grandmother and for stirring up memories of mine!!!!
Gotta try the fudge sauce!!!
I have no ice cream, it’s after midnight and I see this. Cruelty, plain and simple.
It looks DIVINE!!
You SAY this keeps in the fridge for a week – but did it even make it that long in your house? (I kid because I love!)
That fudge sauce looks divine!
What great clicks!
Cheers,
Rosa
If you are looking for a low fat version that is really incredible: My family loves it
1/3 cup cocoa (regular or dark) 1 cup boiling water
1 Cup sugar 1 TBS Butter
2 TBS flour 1/4 Tsp. salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Blend sugar, cocoa, flour and salt. Add 1 cup boiling water and 1 TBS Butter. Heat over medium heat while stirring. Remove from heat when thickened. Stir in 1/2 tsp vanilla.
stores in fridge for up to a month
Funny, homemade hot fudge sauce reminds me of my grandmother, too. She makes an excellent one, that is pretty similar to yours. This blog is making me hungry! Looks delicious!
Thank you, Jamie ! For the recipe and story – imagine milk still being delivered in the 1980′s …..what I wouldn’t give for that!
I’ve been looking for a great hot fudge recipe – I think jars of it would make great gifts, and we love it at my house with peppermint stick ice cream, but I think it would be delish with the raspberry ripple ice cream your mom loved.
And my grandma called the couch a davenport too ! I think the dog was allowed on it but it was preferred that I was not – ha!
Thanks so much for your dedication to your website. I thoroughly enjoy it!
I was craving hot fudge last night! This is awesome!
I loved being taken down memory lane. I’m dying over the fudge dripping down the side – amazing!!
Thx for the story about pierogis. I grew doing the same with my grandmother. My mom and I still make them at Holiday time. That hot fudge is also stunning.
I’m dying right now, I love fudge!!!
I love hot fudge!!! I was just wondering, I’m not sure if we can find corn syrup in Melbourne are there any alternatives? Thanks
Wow, your photo’s look beautiful, I just want to reach in with a HUGE spoon and scoop some fudge. The recipe is fantastic!!!
I love ready family stories. What sweet memories you have of your great-grandmother.
And, this homemade hot fudge sauce looks AMAZING!
YES to the homemade pierogi idea…Tomorrow would be great. Thanks
I love how so many of our memories are tied to foods we love and I can really relate to your story. Many favorite childhood memories are connected to Bergen’s Dairy and the once a week walk my dad would take all five of us kids on to get a cone. Let’s just say Butter Brickle and leave it at that.
I’m more of a caramel girl myself too but when I have really good hot fudge I love it too and this sounds amazing. I have one I love that’s from my childhood before that stuff now sold in plastic bottles and called Magic Shell (yuck). My Mom would take me to lunch where she worked and I loved a Gold Brick Sundae; real chocolate and pecans that hardened on vanilla ice cream.
Now I’m craving one or the other and not a bit of ice cream in the house! Drat.
Looking forward to your homemade pierogi! In the meantime, this fudge sauce looks amazing. Anything homemade is 100x better!
Looks luscious. I can’t wait to try it.
Your hot fudge sauce looks finger/spoon-licking good. What a wonderful memories with your Great Grandma.
Thanks for sharing your story…I look forward to reading you post on the homemade pierogi!
I could bathe in this.
I could seriously dive right into this sauce. It looks SO decadent.
Oh my goodness! That chocolate sauce is so thick and just wow! I want to take a bath in the sauce, is that weird? I hope not, because it looks just that good.
I love the look of this dripping on the side!
We used to go to Old English Parlour too. My mom always got the tin roof sundaes. I forgot about that until I read your post. What a great memory. Since we can’t go there anymore I will have to just make your sauce and pretend.
what a good idea! I’ve made hot fudge sauce before, but you can never have too many recipes for chocolate, right?
And immediately after the photo you used your finger to wipe that fudge falling from the cup.. I would! Awesome!
Now I’m going to be dreaming of sundaes and hot fudge sauce…
Jamie – babuska, davenport – are you sure you weren’t talking about MY grandma? Such a great post. So nostalgiac. Making the kids some of this tonight – wonder if it would rock over mint choc chip?
This sounds fabulous, and I can’t wait to try it! I’ve always wanted to make hot fudge at home!
I on the other hand would totally forgo the ice cream and be perfectly happy with a few big spoonfuls of this!
I live in a town in MN where there was a milkman until two years ago. He was the son-in-law of the original milkman who delivered to my house when I was a kid.
I also prefer to eat the fudge sauce from a spoon since I don’t like I’ve cream.
the word davenport brought back memories of my grandma. Never heard anyone else use the word.
One word…DROOL!
I love this recipe from probably the best issue of Gourmet magazine ever. When I was pregnant, I ate this same hot fudge sauce every single night. Come to think of it, I ate it two nights ago, too. Your photo of it makes me want to make again right now.
I actually do own an ice cream parlor. This recipe sounds great, but it give hot fudge a nice aged flavor if you add some vanilla and Swiss miss hot chocolate.
I am making this as a wedding favor for 132 guests. Do you think it will last in the fridge for longer than a week??????
Amy-
Unfortunately, I do not know if it will last longer than the specified week. Have a great day.
-Jamie
I’ve made this recipe twice and my husband absolutely loves it. The consistency is so thick and gooey, and the dark chocolate flavor is incredible. I’m making jars of it to give away as Christmas gifts this year and I can’t wait to hear how much my family enjoys it! Thank you thank you thank you for this recipe!
This is awesome! Thank you for sharing this recipe.Great help!