best hot fudge sauce

There are a lot of good reasons to put two small jars of homemade hot fudge sauce in your fridge in approximately 10 minutes and possibly forever:
• Hot fudge sauce is the easiest thing on earth to make, and absolutely nothing from a squeeze bottle compares. Not even the stuff at local ice cream parlors, even the kinds that boast about ingredient origins and write their menus on chalkboard walls, are the same. I’m still grumpy about the time I was a gazillion months pregnant ordered hot fudge sauce and someone poured chocolate syrup over my ice cream. I resisted, however, waddling back there and showing them how to make it correctly. I’m sorry I do not behave as well with you.

• Proper hot fudge sauce is thick and shiny. You pour it over a scoop of ice cream and it quickly slides down the sides to form a fudge moat that scoop onto your spoon along with the melty ice cream around it and it’s intensely chocolaty and downright chewy and never gets old.
• It keeps forever, or at least for the remainder of the summer, even if it probably won’t survive that long.
• No matter how many times you rewarm it (we usually spoon a little in to a dish and microwave it for 10 seconds) and chill it again, it never splits or becomes grainy. It remains rich, shiny, and forgiving.
• It makes amazing host gifts. (That’s what the second jar is for.)

• Did you know NYC kids are still in school? When your kid complains that this is the longest school year ever, and they’re kind of right, it provides excellent distraction.

I’ve talked about my favorite hot fudge sauce recipe before. Well, my original favorite was from Silver Palate; it’s what we grew up making and eating and it’s way back in the archives. But once I discovered Gourmet’s version, I almost never looked back. We’ve amped it up with peppermint and crushed candy canes at Christmas. We’ve poured it over the most decadent ice cream cake I’ve ever made. Over the years, I’ve reduced the sugar slightly, opted in some more agreeable sweeteners, and mostly by accident, realized you could put everything in the pot at the same time with little compromise, but the one thing that has never changed is that all days when we have a jar in the fridge are better than those that do not. I think you know what needs to be done.

Previously

One year ago: Strawberry Milk, Corn and Black Bean Weeknight Nachos and Funnel Cake
Two years ago: Strawberry Cornmeal Griddle Cakes, Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream Pie, and Herbed Summer Squash Pasta Bake
Three years ago: Pasta and Fried Zucchini Salad, Valerie’s French Chocolate Cake, Limonada De Coco
Four years ago: Espresso Granita with Whipped Cream and Pickled Vegetable Sandwich Slaw
Five years ago: Broccoli Parmesan Fritters, Chocolate Swirl Buns, and Cold Rice Noodles with Peanut-Lime Chicken
Six years ago: Dobos Torte, Rich Homemade Ricotta, and Linguine with Pea Pesto
Seven years ago: Root Beer Float Cupcakes, Lamb Chops with Pistachio Tapenade, and Strawberry Ricotta Graham Tartlets
Eight years ago: Lemon-Mint Granita, Pickled Sugar Snap Peas, and Springy Fluffy Marshmallows
Nine years ago: Breakfast Apricot Crisp, Dead Simple Slaw, and 10 Paths to Painless Pizza-Making
Ten years ago: Gateau De Crepes, Frideos with Favas and Red Pepper, and Dilled Potato and Pickled Cucumber Salad

And for the other side of the world:
Six Months Ago: Homemade Irish Cream and Pimento Cheese Potato Bites
1.5 Years Ago: Eggnog Waffles and The Browniest Cookies
2.5 Years Ago: Gingerbread Biscotti and Jelly Doughnuts
3.5 Years Ago: Eggnog Florentines and Linzer Torte
4.5 Years Ago: Fromage Fort