SAUCES AND ACCOMPANIMENTS

ICE CREAM CAN BE ENJOYED ON ITS OWN OR SERVED a la mode with a slice of pie. However, there are times when a spoonful of hot fudge sauce and a dollop of whipped cream are appropriate. This chapter contains a variety of classic American sauces for ice cream along with our foolproof technique for whipping cream.

The sauce recipes that follow may be used on their own with ice cream or as part of sundaes. One-quarter cup of sauce makes a generous topping for two scoops of ice cream. Most sauces may be prepared well in advance and stored in the refrigerator for days, if not weeks. Sauces that are best eaten warm, such as hot fudge, should be heated in a double boiler or microwave as needed.

Sundaes are as all-American as apple pie, maybe even more so because they were actually invented in this country just before the turn of the century. The precise origins of the ice cream sundae are a bit murky. Several sources cite nineteenth-century prohibitions against the drinking of soda water on the Sabbath. With popular ice cream sodas out of bounds, ice cream parlors started serving sauces and other toppings with ice cream on Sunday.

However the practice began, a sundae appeals to children as well as adults. Spoon one-quarter cup of any of the following sauce recipes over two scoops of ice cream and then top off with a one-half-cup or generous three-quarter-cup dollop of whipped cream. A sprinkling of chopped, toasted walnuts and a maraschino cherry finish off a classic sundae.