Make your own hot fudge sauce

Cold ice cream with softened edges from the warmth of creamy, rich hot fudge. Mmm. Well, this hot fudge can be made, start to finish, in about 5 minutes and uses only whole food ingredients. Grab your favourite clean eating ice cream or perhaps a dairy free version made with coconut milk (yum!) and you have a "let's talk later I am eating my hot fudge sundae right now" bowl of happiness.

When you have something rich and with such expectation and only so few ingredients, use the best ingredients that you can find to bring out the amazing flavour that nature intended (because we are sure that nature intended for us to eat hot fudge).

Dark Chocolate Hot Fudge Sauce makes 3/4 cup of sauce

1/2 cup local honey 1/3 cup organic fair trade cocoa powder or raw cocao powder will work too but with a slightly different flavour 3 TBSP organic, virgin coconut oil (or 2 TBSP of coconut oil & 1 TBSP of organic butter) a few grains of salt 1 tsp natural vanilla extract

Put all of the ingredients into a small sauce pan except the vanilla. With the heat on medium-high, use a whisk and get the ingredients all melting together. Once you start getting some bubbling, turn the burner down a touch and set the timer for one minute (no more or it will be too much like taffy). Whisk often for that minute and when your timer goes, remove the pot from the heat and whisk in your vanilla. Scrape it into a jar and let it cool a little bit while you clean up your little mess. Voila. Done.

It will thicken as it cools. Pour over ice cream and enjoy the fudgey texture. If you have leftovers, they can be stored on the counter for a few days as putting it in the fridge will make it rock hard. The high content of antioxidants in the cocoa and the anti bacterial nature of the honey and coconut oil will keep it all fresh for you.

Alternatively, you could place a piece of parchment on a cookie sheet and pour little blobs of the fudge a few inches apart. Place it in the fridge or freezer, when hard, peel off the parchment and store the treats back in the cold. While your fudge is still hot, you could mix in nuts, gogi berries or your favourite treat and even sprinkle with some course sea salt. As always, this is your recipe. We just like to get you started!

Recipe by Amy Buckman @ your local Amaranth