Commercial chocolate sauces are a pale imitation of the real thing and usually don’t include any real chocolate. An old-school batch of real chocolate sauce is easy to make, easy to use and an easy way to saturate any treat with lots of rich, true, chocolate flavour. Try not to eat too much of this sauce straight out of the jar!

Yield: Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients

1 cup heavy cream (35%)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Procedure

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.

Variation

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