Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Sauce

Happy Valentine's Day! 

This isn't necessarily a Valentine's Day recipe, I know, but to be honest, I'm not really into Valentine's Day so didn't have any plans to make anything Valentine-ish.  I happened to make Ben & Jerry's French vanilla ice cream last week (post coming tomorrow) and made this wonderful chocolate sauce to go with it, so decided to throw a few hearts on there and wait until today to post it.  Lame, I know, but I really prefer Easter, Halloween, and Christmas baking over Valentine's.  Hey, at least it's chocolate!

Even though I'm not really into Valentine's Day, I decided to use the holiday as an excuse to buy myself a present last week.  I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit I bought yet another cookbook.  That's two new cookbooks in two weeks.  What can I say, I love cookbooks.  My new book is Chef Michael Smith's, The Best of Chef at Home (Canadians will recognize him from Food Network Canada).  What a gorgeous book.  It's filled with beautiful photographs and so many recipes I can't wait to try.  I decided to start with this chocolate sauce first as I had just made the ice cream, and what could be better for homemade ice cream than a homemade topping?

This sauce is oh so good.  It's dark, fudgy, and bittersweet.  It takes only minutes to prepare, and you have a sauce for your ice cream that's far better than anything you can buy in the store.  This is more along the lines of a hot fudge sauce rather than say Hershey's chocolate syrup, which pours easily.  This will firm up on ice cream and will thicken right up in the refrigerator so to use it, simply spoon some into a microwave-safe bowl and just heat it up for a few seconds.

Not only does this taste good on ice cream, but it's pretty darn tasty eaten with a spoon right out of the jar too.....

Enjoy!

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Sauce
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1 cup heavy cream (35%)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (you can substitute with semisweet if you want)*
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

*Do not use chocolate chips, as they have a lower cocoa butter content than regular chocolate to help them keep their shape in baking. This affects their ability to melt.

NOTE:  I halved the above recipe to make 1 cup of sauce.

Pour the cream and sugar into a small saucepan and bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder and chocolate, stirring until smooth. Whisk in the vanilla, pour into a jar and refrigerate.

For a sophisticated grown-up taste, you may substitute any of your favourite liqueurs: rum, brandy or cognac for the vanilla.

NOTE:  Sauce will firm up in the fridge and can be easily and quickly reheated in the microwave for a few seconds.

Makes 2 cups.

Source:  Chef Michael Smith's The Best of Chef at Home: Essential Recipes for Today's Kitchen

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