SHF #27 – Hot Fudge Sauce

There’s a new game in our house. Due to our impending move, we are playing a game that we have dubbed “Freezer Meltdown.” Basically we scan the freezer and figure out what needs to be eaten, then we try to come up with a meal or dessert using that ingredient and as many others that we have on hand as possible. Whatever we choose to make must also be easy and not make too big of a mess. So far we haven’t made anything weird, but beware, you never know what we might do just to finish something off.

Right now we have five half gallons of ice cream in the freezer, one of which is opened. Yes, we really like ice cream, even in January when it’s cold and we’re getting freezing rain like today. We buy ice cream when it’s on sale, and we usually buy just two at a time. Our favorite ice cream brand is Turkey Hill, although we do enjoy Mayfield and Breyers as well. Currently we have Turkey Hill Coffee, Mayfield Extreme Moosetracks and Blueberry Cream Pie, and Breyers Banana Bananza and Fried Ice Cream in our stash. But ice cream doesn’t move well, so we need to finish off the stash before we depart the area.

So when trying to decide what to make for David Lebovitz’s Chocolate by Brand SHF event, I opened the freezer and scanned the contents, hoping something would jump out and give me a brilliant idea for what to make. I kept going back to the ice cream, but I couldn’t think of something that would be quick and easy. Then it hit me…we’re out of fudge sauce, and fudge sauce is the perfect topping for ice cream.

In the past I’ve made fudge sauce out of chocolate chips, baking chocolate, and unsweetened cocoa. Because I had a bag of Ghirardelli 60% Bittersweet Chocolate Chips on hand this time, that’s what I used. You can make this with heavy cream and have a rich, decadent fudge sauce, but I didn’t have any and the whole idea behind Freezer Meltdown is to buy as few ingredients as possible, so I used a can of fat free evaporated milk that I had leftover from Christmas baking. It still tastes very good and it is tempting to eat it by the spoonful all by itself, but this dark chocolate sauce really turns a simple bowl of ice cream into a special treat.

Update: Check out the round-up of decadent chocolate treats at David’s blog. There were so many entries that he split them up into separate posts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4).

Equipment

3-quart heavy bottom sauce pan

Ingredients

1 (12 ounce) package dark chocolate chips
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation

1. Pour the milk, chocolate chips and sugar into the saucepan.

2. Cook over medium heat until boiling, stirring constantly.

3. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. The sauce will thicken while it is cooling.

4. Serve warm over ice cream.