It was easier than I thought to make homemade chocolate sauce. I love chocolate syrup on ice cream, and Hershey’s, while delicious, is full of all kinds of weird additives and thickeners. Chocolate is perfect–why mess with it?
So I decided to make my own, mostly inspired by a recipe my Grandma had found in the LA Times a year or so ago, but never given to me, for bittersweet chocolate sauce. I made some for her, and some for us, and some for my uncles, so I doubled this recipe, which worked out just fine.
I wanted a recipe without any added dairy so it would be more shelf stable and last longer. Plus, dairy and I don’t really get along. This recipe was super easy to make and, while I was regrettably out of Dutch cocoa, I would absolutely use it next time–Dutch cocoa is fabulous and makes everything taste so much more extravagant. This recipe is borrowed from David Lebovitz of Chez Panisse.
Best Chocolate Sauce Recipe
1 cup (250 ml) water
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
1/2 cup (160 g) light corn syrup, agave nectar, or glucose
3/4 cup (75 g) unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-processed)
2 ounces (55 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the water, sugar, corn syrup (or agave or glucose), and cocoa powder. 2. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Once it’s just begun to simmer and boil, remove from heat and stir in the chopped chocolate until melted. Serving: You should let the Chocolate Sauce stand for a few hours before serving, which will give it time to thicken a bit. Storage: Store the chocolate sauce in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. Rewarm before serving.
Jars for all!