What a fun time I had again chatting with Matt Swaim/Sacred Heart Radio Sonrise Morning Show today about Matthew 2:11 and the magi bringing gifts to Baby Jesus.
Here’s a holiday scenario that may be as familiar to some of you as it is to me.
You’re invited to a celebratory gathering and you’d like to bring a homemade edible host/hostess gift.
The devil in the details here is time. Who has spare time during the holiday season to devote to making last minute gifts from the kitchen?
The whole idea can be daunting, but not when I can share a couple of quick jar recipes for gourmet dessert sauces.. The bonus? No long list of unfamiliar ingredients.
Are you ready to whip up an effortless and trendy salted maple caramel sauce? Or a glossy, dark hot fudgy sauce? How about both?
Either, of course, is yummy spooned warm over ice cream.
Pour a little caramel sauce over nut tarts or bread pudding. Or stir a spoonful into your morning coffee for a jump start to the day.
The fudgy sauce morphs into a delectable dip for large strawberries with stems. Sort of like the old fashioned dessert fondue.
Several of my popular dessert sauces use corn syrup as a base ingredient, but these two don’t. For those of you who favor sauces sans corn syrup, this duo will make you smile.
Salted maple caramel sauce
Ingredients
1/3 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup whipping cream, unwhipped
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
Coarse salt – start with 1/8 teaspoon
Instructions
Put butter in pan over medium heat and cook until melted.
Pour in brown sugar slowly, whisking constantly until well mixed and melty. It will look grainy. That’s OK.
Pour in cream, whisking constantly.
Bring to gentle boil and cook, whisking occasionally, for several minutes, until it’s to your liking, thickness wise. This took about 4 minutes.
Bring to gentle boil and cook, whisking occasionally, for several minutes, until it’s to your liking, thickness wise. This took about 4 minutes.
Remove from heat, stir in syrup and vanilla.
Stir in salt to taste.
Store, covered, in refrigerator up to 3 weeks, and warm before using.
Switch it up!
Leave salt out.
Swap out vanilla with a couple splashes of bourbon or rum.
Simple hot fudgy chocolate sauce
A riff on the classic hot fudge, this sauce is super fast to make, with a similar consistency.
Ingredients
1 can, 14 oz, sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
6 oz bittersweet/dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips or bars, chopped – a cup or so
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla or chocolate extract
Instructions
Put everything but vanilla in a saucepan and cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat until chocolate is smooth, and mixture looks glossy. Stir in vanilla.
Store, covered, in refrigerator up to 3 weeks, and warm before using.
Cinnamon hot fudgy sauce
Stir in 1/2 teaspoon or so cinnamon with milk, etc.
Gift giving tips
Pour into microwave safe jar.
Indicate serving and storing instructions on the gift label.
About Eating 