June 11, 2010 Eat-Dessert-First Friday

When my son was little, all he wanted to eat was junk food (not much has changed).  So I had to create special occasions each week to keep the candy and cookies to a minimum.  For instance, if he got good conduct marks at school all week, he would get doughnuts for breakfast Thursday morning.  If he was naughty even one of those days, he knew he would lose his doughnut privilege.

We also started a tradition many years ago called Eat-Dessert-First Friday.  Based on the saying, "Life is uncertain; eat dessert first," every Friday we would give up our afternoon snack and at dinnertime start with dessert.  We would always eat a good dinner later, of course.

In honor of that tradition, I'm going to share one of my favorite desserts with you, one that my grandmother used to make for me when I was a child just because I asked for it, any time of the day.  It's not hard to make, but it is oh, so satisfying and reminiscent of a sweeter time of life.

This is a chocolate sauce, and it can be drizzled over practically anything you want.  Maw Maw always dipped bread in it and called it "chocolate bread."  It's also amazing on ice cream, strawberries, or angel food cake.

Chocolate Sauce:
powdered baking cocoa
milk
sugar
(I use soy milk and fructose sugar when I make this, but use what YOU have.)

In a small saucepan (or large if you want to make a lot of it), stir together equal amounts of cocoa powder and milk.  Then stir in about the same amount of sugar. (e.g. 1/4 c. cocoa, 1/4 c. milk, 1/4 c. sugar--play with it.) The consistency should be a little thick and soupy at first. 

(*Remember, I've been cooking a long time, so it's really hard to tell you quantities, but I did test this out.  Sometimes it's best to just keep adding little by little and taste what you have.  That's the best way to come up with your own creations.)

Put the pan on a medium heat and keep stirring CONSTANTLY.  If you leave the sauce unstirred for too long, or have the heat too high, it will burn.  This may take a little while, and patience is one of the hardest things for cooks like me to learn, but it's well worth it.  When you can still see bubbles coming up all over the pan right after you've stirred, it's probably ready (kind of looks like the tar pits).

Pour this over bread (French bread, mwaaa) or fruit or ice cream, and you'll be in hog heaven.

Thanks, Maw Maw.