Hot Fudge and Home Made Ice Cream

By Kerry Schafer 

So many chocolate recipes, only one blog. I've spent the week running through recipes in my head, trying to choose which one to post. Most of mine aren't fancy. I went through a phase as a teenager where I spent my weekends making 10 egg cakes. Hey, we had chickens and a surplus of eggs, and it was sort of magical to blend ingredients in just the perfect way and produce some light and fluffy concoction that would melt in my mouth. Cake for breakfast? Yes, please. But I'm a whole lot busier now. Eggs are expensive. And I'm trying not to eat the things that make me grow in the wrong direction. So the recipes that tend to stay with me are my childhood classics. One of these is homemade hot fudge sauce, invariably paired with homemade ice cream. When I think of making ice cream, mind you, I'm not picturing any handy dandy high falutin' electric no mess process. Here's what I remember: A house full of friends on a dark winter Saturday night. My brother taking a feedsack and the axe down to the pond, where he'd break up ice to fill the sack and lug it back up to the house. Hammering it into little chunks of ice, which then filled the hand crank ice cream maker. Tons of rock salt on the ice. Kids spelling each other off turning and turning and turning the hand crank until it got so stiff we could turn it no more. And then. Toasty warm house. Deliciously cold sweet ice cream topped with thick and gooey hot fudge. Yeah. Oh, and then the pleasure of sneaking into the fridge later and eating that fudge by the spoonful. So, without more ado, the recipes. Hot Fudge: 1 1/2 c. canned milk 2 c. sugar 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 c butter 1 tsp vanilla Heat milk and sugar to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Add chocolate and salt and stir until melted. Wire whip until smooth, then remove from heat. Add vanilla and butter. Ice Cream 1 can Eagle Brand 1 1/2 pints cream add enough milk to make 5 cups 1 Tbsp vanilla small pinch salt. Mix well. Pour into the compartment of an ice cream maker and freeze. Whatever you eat or don't eat, whatever you celebrate or don't - I wish for everybody warmth and joy over the holidays.