Hot Fudge Sauce

I had a craving for something sweet this weekend, and thought, "Why not hot fudge sundaes?!" For Christmas I gave my better half Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, and inside was an easy and, it turned out, excellent recipe for hot fudge. The quality of the final product depends greatly, of course, on the type of chocolate used; we had good-quality semi-sweet chocolate that worked really nicely. This recipe isn't as achingly sweet as many commercial chocolate sauces, which I find nice, but you could always pick a sweeter chocolate to make the sauce more child or sweet-tooth friendly.

Hot Fudge

4 oz. semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate

4 tbsp butter

1/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup water

1/3 cup corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla

Combine first 5 ingredients in a saucepan over very low heat. Cook, stirring, until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Add the corn syrup. Bring the mixture just to a boil and turn quickly back down, careful not to burn the chocolate. Cook, stirring more or less constantly, for 5-10 minutes, until the mixtures is shiny and begins to thicken. Add the vanilla. Avoid the temptation to eat this right away; it's better if it sits for 10-15 minutes before you dig in. Not only does this allow the sauce to thicken, but also your ice cream won't melt that way!