Simple Ways To Upgrade Your Hot Fudge Sauce

Just mentioning the three words -- hot fudge sauce -- brings a tumble of childhood memories, many centered on lazy summer days or pre-teen trips to eye-dazzling ice cream parlors. When did we stop treating ourselves to such indulgent delights, and more to the point, why? There's no reason to tuck hot fudge sauce into dusty memory banks, not when we can make it anytime with a quick trip to the grocery store. Even better, as adults, we're free to jazz up the flavors with experimental ingredients, creating our own marvelous magic.

Admittedly, straying too far from classic hot fudge sauce might be a bridge too far. That's why the foundation of any custom HFS should pay homage to its lineage. A typical, old-fashioned hot fudge sauce recipe, with some leeway, comes together with unsweetened cocoa powder or baking chocolate, sugar, cream, vanilla, light corn syrup, and a pinch of salt. After turning all that into thick, creamy, fudgey deliciousness, you know what to do next: drizzle over ice cream, stir into a hot fudge chocolate cake, or layer between dessert bars or pudding cakes. When nobody's looking, just lick it straight off the spoon.

That said, it's not sacrilege to build on a good thing. Culinary creativity makes the world go round, elevating basic recipes while spawning new flavor combinations. Hot fudge sauce is up for the game if you are. Here's some simple ways to upgrade your hot fudge sauce with little effort and lots of imagination.

Read more: 25 Chocolate Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

Add Some Java For Richer Chocolate Flavor

Nothing brings out the flavor of unadorned chocolate like a boost of java. Coffee powder in any form, such as espresso or instant coffee, is one of the easiest ways to add depth and richness to your hot fudge sauce. It's possible to use concentrated liquid coffee, but that brings the potential of over-thinning the sauce. Consistency is key to the creamy nature of hot fudge, so take the easy route.

When using powdered coffee, the amount to add comes down to personal proclivities. For a strong, defining espresso taste, shoot for a few tablespoons, mixing it straight into the cocoa powder before proceeding with the grand evolution. For a milder hint of java, choose teaspoons instead of tablespoons.

When going bold with liquid espresso or strong brewed coffee, start with adding half the amount of coffee as the other liquid, the cream. You'll need to compensate for the thinner consistency by mixing in a compatible thickener, such as honey or a pinch of tapioca. Just be aware that you could mess with the coffee-and-chocolate flavor chemistry, so proceed with care.

Warm Spices, Warm Chocolate

Spices are a natural match for chocolate, and you can go in several directions with that. For a cozy, warm chocolate fudge sauce, reach for classic hot chocolate or tea enhancers such as nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, mace, or cardamom. Mix and match, depending on how adventurous you're feeling. All of these spices need to be ground versions rather than whole, for easy mixing and smooth texture in the enhanced hot fudge sauce.

For a touch of sweetness in the saucy concoction, try powdered ginger. This spice is considered to be warm bordering on fiery, with a natural inherent sweetness. It's much different than the cane or brown sugar in chocolate fudge recipes, with a fresh, subtle, light sweetness that shines when combined with natural cocoa powder. You'll very likely still want to keep the original sugar in the equation when making hot fudge sauce, just accentuated by the hint of sweet ginger.

Cardamom may feel like an odd choice for chocolate sauce, but it can be the perfect complement when pouring the sauce over light, fragrant chocolate cakes. That's especially true if the cake itself has cardamom in the batter. Sprinkle crushed pistachios over the sauce for a dreamy trio of cake perfection.

Kick Up The Spice With Chipotle, Cayenne, And Potent Sizzlers

Flip the switch on hot fudge sauce infusions with a veer toward punchy spices. That can be a relatively mild nudge from cumin or chipotle powder, or a swift kick via their louder chili pepper cousins. We're talking jalapeño or ancho powder for starters, moving further down the line to cayenne, tabasco, or even habanero pepper powders if you dare.

Some traditionalists may balk at the idea of sizzling up the classic taste of hot fudge sauce, but everything is relative. It's your tastebuds, after all, so jump right in and start mixing if the mood strikes. You might want to stop before hitting the ghost-pepper level, at which point you'd likely taste neither the chocolate sauce nor anything it's poured over.

Putting these chili pepper powders in your hot fudge sauce is as easy as sprinkling them into the saucepan while the elixir simmers. You could also shortcut it even more by dashing in some ready-made Tabasco sauce. This kind of spicy chocolate sauce could be a good companion for dense or spongy cakes, which have the potential ability to withstand or even absorb the burst of pungency.

Honey Sweetens The Pot

Get your sweet tooth primed for this one. Instead of using cane sugar or brown sugar, you'll reach for the honey pot in this rendition of hot fudge sauce. Cooking with honey is notoriously tricky, but no worries here. Keep it sweet and simple by omitting the corn syrup and sugar in a traditional hot fudge recipe and swapping in honey instead. This is a good time to use chocolate chips instead of powdered cocoa, as you want a strong chocolate presence that stands up to the powerfully earthy taste of honey.

Experiment per taste, but a good starting point is to melt chocolate chips, heavy cream, honey, and a few tablespoons of butter in a saucepan until smooth, then add a dash of vanilla. Try an equal ratio of cream to honey, roughly 6 ounces each for every 8 ounces of chocolate chips. Your personal taste buds will dictate the ultimate recipe, depending on the type of honey and brand of chocolate. This could also be a good place to slip in some cinnamon.

For an alternative to honey with a more pronounced flavor, try molasses. Again, the type of molasses dictates its impact on hot fudge sauce. Some versions impart sweet and smoky notes, while others, such as blackstrap molasses, can be complex, spicy, and even slightly sour.

Creamy Caramel Or Condensed Milk Adds Velvety Sweetness

Imagining the perfect companion for hot fudge narrows down pretty quickly. The desirable jar-mate needs a complementary flavor, similar texture, and irresistible nature. That would be caramel, a duo made for infamy. The easiest way to make this marriage work is to create your hot fudge sauce, then mix in an equal amount of premade caramel sauce or soft caramel candies. Alternatively, if you're brave enough to make caramel from scratch, you'll create the caramel first. While it's still hot in the pot, stir in your unsweetened cocoa powder or chopped semi-sweet chocolate bits, along with vanilla and salt, if desired.

For even faster sauce, consider jumpstarting the caramel-cocoa infusion with premade hot cocoa mixtures such as salted caramel hot cocoa. When going this route, you can cut down on the unsweetened cocoa in your recipe, since cocoa is already part of this mixture. Just be sure to buy pure, high-quality cocoa mixes without added fillers or artificial sugars. Ideally, they will contain ingredients such as real cocoa and cane sugar or brown sugar.

To instantly take things in a different direction, try making the ultimate hot fudge with only two ingredients: dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk. You can even do the whole thing in a microwave, heating and stirring for a couple of minutes at a time until it is smooth and creamy. If it's too thick, thin it out with a spoonful of water.

Booze Up Hot Fudge Sauce With A Splash Of Bourbon

Who would want to booze up a classic, family-friendly, hot fudge topping? Plenty of people, based on the number of recipes for sweet and creamy desserts and sauces infused with whiskey. That's especially true when that whiskey happens to be bourbon, the sweetheart of America's home-grown spirits.

Many of the ingredients in hot fudge sauce pair nicely with bourbon, especially when the sauce recipe includes brown sugar and vanilla. In fact, some recipes for old-fashioned cocktails call for bourbon and brown sugar. It's not much of a stretch to splash some bourbon into the saucepan, along with the chocolate, cream, sugar, and other ingredients. You'll enjoy a subtle smoky sweetness otherwise absent in most chocolate sauces.

Just be aware of the alcohol content when cooking or baking with bourbon, since hot fudge sauce only simmers for a few minutes to avoid scorching. That means the alcohol is less likely to cook out of the sauce entirely.

Read the original article on Tasting Table