You know, and I know this is not a food blog. But that doesn’t mean I can’t write about food. Sharing food with friends is part of a good life, and we’re all about that here. Today I want to invite you to try a perfect little dessert that Chris and I sometimes like to savor after the children are down for the night.
So call your spouse or invite a friend over and have them help you put this together. This is just the right size for two people, so do have the little people in bed. You will need cream, milk, butter, sugar, chocolate chips, and vanilla. And then choose your fruit; our favorite combination is bananas and strawberries. Have your friend wash and cut a dozen strawberries and slice a banana while you make the sauce. This might be the best chocolate sauce I have ever had. I don’t know how chocolate sauce can be fluffy, or what magic Chris works when he makes it, but it really is fluffy and magical. It’s not too sweet, just thick enough to perfectly coat the fruit, and it makes strawberries even better than they are without chocolate — which is saying a lot.
To make the sauce, combine in your smallest kettle 1/4 cup of half and half (or use half cream, half milk) with one 1/2 tablespoon each of sugar and butter. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and add 1/4 cup of chocolate chips (we prefer bittersweet). Let sit for one minute, then whisk until smooth and creamy and perfect. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and scrape into your smallest glass dish. There it is, perfect and ready. Light a candle, bring forks and your fruit, and pull up two chairs. And enjoy. (And don’t feel bad at all about using your finger to clean the last bit of chocolate out of the dish.)
This recipe is a half batch of the Chocolate Sauce recipe found on page 1045 of Joy of Cooking,* and I’ve used it here without permission. Since (maybe) fifty people will read this post I am going to let it go at that. Go ahead right now and copy the recipe into that place where you write recipes — in the notebook, all neatly organized, that you keep on your cookbook shelf or on the back of the envelope pulled from the trash can. Write it down and ask your husband to pick up bananas and strawberries on his way home from work so you can rest your soul over food and friendship tonight.
*Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker. Copywrite 1997 by Simon & Schuster Inc., The Joy of Cooking Trust, and the MRB Revocable Trust. All rights reserved.
Utterly not fair, putting this where I’d read it just before going to bed! Sounds like a dream…
Aww… Sorry, Kendra.
That’s ok. ? Just gonna file this for future reference!
Also, I’ve wanted for years to get Joy of Cooking. I just have trouble justifying it when I already have a substantial number of cook books and use them so little…
It was a gift to me when I was a teenager. I don’t use it lots and lots, but whenever I need to know the professional way to do something in the kitchen, it’s my go-to. It’s like the encyclopedia of cookbooks, and it’s really nice to have it for that. Keep your eyes out for a good deal sometime or ask for it for it for your birthday. Or if both of you like to work in the kitchen get it for an anniversary gift to yourselves. Last year we bought ourselves a cooking course from Great Courses when it was on a deep sale–perfect!