|
Who
doesn't love pouring warm chocolate sauce over a bowl of cold
vanilla ice cream or using it as a dip for fresh strawberries?
Defining Chocolate Sauce doesn't do it justice for strictly speaking
it is a pourable liquid of melted chocolate, cream and sometimes
butter that is usually sweetened with sugar and flavored with
extracts, liquors or liqueurs. Sounds nice but what this doesn't say
is that if you use a high quality silky smooth semisweet chocolate,
rich cream, a little sugar, and good flavoring you will have a
delectable sauce that beats anything out of a jar.
Chocolate is the dominant
flavors in this recipe, so use a good quality chocolate that
you enjoy eating out-of-hand. When choosing chocolate, look for one that
has a lovely shiny finish (a sign that the chocolate was cooked at the
right temperature for the right amount of time) and one that has that
wonderful 'snap' when you break it into pieces. If you like you can use a
couple of different chocolates which will give the sauce a more complex
flavor. Good choices are Lindt, Callebaut, and Scharffen Berger. Also, if
you have a weakness for Nutella, that lovely hazelnut spread, try adding
1/4 cup to the finished sauce and add 1 tablespoon of Frangelico to
heighten the hazelnut flavor. Once the chocolate sauce cools, if you find it too thick
for your liking, just add
a little more cream until you achieve the desired consistency. This
sauce will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. Just reheat the sauce before using. |
