A Hot Fudge Education

Summer is almost upon us and even though ice cream is a year-round (almost daily) thing for us...summer is a perfect excuse to eat more! I was a bit appalled at my parenting lapse when neither of my girls had any idea what a "hot fudge sundae" could possibly be. Well, I fixed that today...and my house smells so good!

There are three different recipes for dairy-free chocolate sauce here, depending on your chocolate tastes and what you have in your pantry. The first is a chocolate syrup, nearly identical to Hershey's syrup, and much cheaper than $6 Ahlaska Chocolate Syrup. It is perfect for mixing with soymilk or rice milk to make your own chocolate milk and it lasts for quite a while in the fridge. The second is thick, dark and glossy. It reminds me of Sander's Fudge Topping, and this was the girls' favorite. The third is an adaptation of my mom's hot fudge recipe, substituting coconut milk for the evaporated milk. This is more of a "milk chocolate" sauce and is thinner than the second recipe. This was the favorite of the adults in the house, but we've also had gallons of my mom's hot fudge over Schwann's Peppermint Stick ice cream through the years...I guess we're a bit set in our hot fudge ways.

Oh, the "ice cream" is SoDelicious and the whipped cream is Rich's Whip in my new cream whipper!

Dairy-Free Chocolate Syrup (like Hershey's Syrup)

adapted from the Hillbilly Housewife

1/2 cup dairy and nut-free cocoa powder ( I used Nestle)
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1.) Mix water, cocoa, sugar and salt in a 2 quart saucepan over high heat.
2.) Whisk until everything dissolves and then bring to a full boil, stirring occasionally.
3.) Reduce heat and boil for a full 3 minutes, make sure it doesn't boil over!
4.) Remove from heat and stir in the salt and vanilla.
5.) Allow to cool and then pour into a pint-sized canning jar, or an old cleaned-out Hershey's squeeze bottle. 

Store in the fridge for a month or two.

Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Sauce

Adapted from epicurious, so it's their fault that you get every single measuring cup messy!

2/3 cup plain soymilk
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup dairy-free and nut-free cocoa powder ( I used Nestle)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dairy-free and nut-free chocolate chips (I used Divvies)
2 Tablespoons dairy-free margarine (This is probably optional, I used Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine)

1.) Bring soymilk, corn syrup, sugar, cocoa, salt and half the chocolate chips to a boil in a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the chocolate is melted.
2.) Reduce heat and cook at a low boil, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
3.) Remove from heat and stir in the remaining chocolate, vanilla and the margarine (if you are using it) until smooth.

Makes about 2 cups, keeps refrigerated for 1 week.

Dairy-Free Milk Chocolate Hot Fudge Sauce

Adapted from my mom

1 can coconut milk (14 ounce)
1/4 cup (make it heaping) dairy and nut-free cocoa powder (I used Nestle)
1 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

1.) Bring everything to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat.

2.) Reduce heat and cook at a low boil for 5 minutes.

 Store refrigerated for 1 week.