My favorite ice cream sundae
An unusual, but winning combination
Substack friends,
This here newsletter is a tad overdue, for which I apologize. I had the pleasure of being on vacation in Italy, so over the next few weeks you can expect some recipes and recommendations, and probably too many photos of the gelato I ate, for which I apologize in advance.
Today though, I must catch up with the recipe from my latest podcast with Miles Taylor. Miles is the former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff and the man once known as Anonymous who revealed publicly what Trump’s cabinet was saying privately. Miles shared special insights into his new book, Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump, and makes clear the threat to this country and our democracy if Trump is reelected. Being an outspoken critic of the Trump White House came with a personal price, which Miles makes clear during our interview. You can listen to it here:
While talking about serious things, as is often the way of my podcast, we were cooking together. Miles requested hot fudge sundaes, and I insisted it we take it a few glorious steps beyond the regular hot fudge sundae.
For all my devotion to cookies, my desert island dessert would be a hot fudge sundae. Not the classic vanilla and hot fudge combo, but a creation I first had at New York’s NoHo Star restaurant of blessed memory called the Coupe Mozart. Located at the corner of Lafayette and Bleecker in the East Village, the restaurant was always busy, and also managed a feat most restaurants fail at—they served everything from cheeseburgers and fries to Chinese dumplings—and no matter the cuisine, all were delicious.
(The restaurant was located to the Temple Bar, where I used to drink martinis, which may have colored my love of the food. However, the Coupe Mozart was consumed when I was stone-cold sober, so I insist my judgement was not colored in any way.)
The Coupe Mozart is a rapturous concoction of of coffee ice cream slathered in lashings of hot fudge and hot raspberry sauces.
To simplify the recipe I use storebought coffee ice cream and hot fudge sauce. If I’m not making the hot fudge myself, I splurge on the best sauce I can find. For me, my first choice is Herrell’s hot fudge, from Northampton, Massachusetts. It is deeply chocolatey, not the typical brown corn syrup concoction that passes for hot fudge in some places. I first had it when I was in college, and was more excited than a normal person to find it for sale at my local New Jersey supermarket. You can also order it here.
Stonewall Kitchens and The Silver Palate’s versions are also good and more readily available.
All there is for you to do is make the raspberry sauce, which takes a matter of minutes. Some homemade whipped cream wouldn’t go amiss here either.
Warm Raspberry Sauce
Makes about 1 1/4 cups sauce
What You’ll Need:
1 12-ounce (340 grams) bag frozen raspberries, thawed in the refrigerator
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar, or to taste
1 to 2 tablespoons eau de vie or Chambord (utterly optional, like only if you’re having fancy people over, or don’t know what to do with that bottle of raspberry liqueur you bought on vacation)
What You’ll Do:
Stir together the raspberries and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, breaking up the raspberry clusters as you go. When the mixture comes to a simmer (small bubbles appear at the edge of the pot), let it burble away for 2 to 3 minutes until the mixture has released some of its moisture and started to turn syrupy.
(There is a school of thought that adds cornstarch to thicken it. I did not go to that school.)
Remove from the heat, stir in any liqueur if using, and let cool slightly.
Assemble the sundaes: Remove the lid from the jar of hot fudge sauce and place the jar on a microwave-safe plate (this is to catch drips from overflowing fudge magma). Give the hot fudge a blast of microwaves for 1 minute, then add 30-second blasts until the hot fudge is molten.
Pour some hot fudge into the bottom of a bowl or pretty glass. Add scoops of coffee ice cream, then drizzle raspberry sauce and more fudge sauce over the top. Top with whipped cream if desired.
And, of course, you can make the raspberry sauce a day or two in advance and reheat when necessary.
What is your desert island dessert? What is your favorite ice cream sundae memory? Did you every have toasted pound cake, ice cream and chocolate syrup, as was popular when I was little? Do you have a favorite hot fudge sauce? Do you want a hot fudge recipe? Let me know in the comments!
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Here in Seattle we have found Fran’s chocolate, they also make a delicious fudge sauce. This combo looks strange, interesting, weird, I’m totally going to try it!
Grrrrrrl! You are awesome sauce....cuz the sauce is raspberry!