I have been making a lot of Ninja Swirl recipes recently. After developing my Ninja Swirl Vanilla soft serve, I knew I wanted to serve it with a hot fudge sauce. Not a serious, dark chocolate filled variety but a Maccas style hot fudge sauce – sweet, lighter and perfect malleable after hitting the cold ice cream. I personally feel that I have nailed the ‘Maccas hot fudge’ brief with this brown butter hot fudge sauce with cocoa.
As the name suggests, we are using cocoa powder here instead of chocolate. It is easier, quicker to make on a whim and lighter in chocolate flavour.
This is a small batch recipe that serves two people (or one, if you prefer). However, the quantities are very easy to scale up – double, triple and beyond. You can brown the butter or you can simply melt it. This recipe also works as a vegan hot fudge sauce with cocoa.
I was inspired by the recipe at Baking Mischief and have tweaked it a little based on lazy girl measurements and my own tastes. However, that recipe deserves the credit for this offensively easy yet delicious sauce.
Ingredient notes
This is a simple recipe with few ingredients, but I do have a few notes and pointers. Firstly, I recommend browning the butter to a medium amber coloured consistency. It should have beautiful brown flecks in it and smell toasty and nutty.
In terms of the sugar, I recommend light brown sugar. It contributes another layer of flavour that white sugar can’t. I have not tested any other varieties of sugar at this time.
Personally, I am always a dutch processed cocoa girl. I prefer the deeper chocolate flavour. With that said, I am sure this recipe would work with all cocoa varieties.
Choose whichever sort of (neutrally flavoured) milk you prefer. I like lactose free full fat milk here but you can choose what you use and love.
To make this hot fudge sauce low FODMAP, simply use a low FODMAP milk and serve it with a low FODMAP dessert.
Can I make this dairy free/vegan?
Yes, but with a few tweaks and caveats. Personally I think that the dairy based version is a lot better here so I intend to keep tweaking a vegan version. I might publish it separately to dedicate a whole page to it so watch this space.
Firstly, you can’t brown most vegan butters so you will need to skip that step.
I find that vegan butter can taste ‘thinner’ and vegan milk can taste sweeter. As such, I recommend adding a little extra cocoa to round everything out and disguise the vegan butter flavour. You might consider using 20g of sugar as opposed to 25g, too.
I recommend the pinch of salt irrespective of whether you are using salted or unsalted butter. It is always welcome in chocolate recipes in my opinion.
Choose a neutrally flavoured vegan butter and vegan milk. I tested soy milk here but I daresay any plant based milk is fine.
Places to use your brown butter hot fudge sauce
- On Ninja Swirl vanilla soft serve or Ninja Creami vanilla ice cream
- On this gluten free vegan chocolate mug cake (HEAVENLY combo)
- Dare I say, it would also be incredible on this gluten free Nutella mug cake
- Dip fresh strawberries straight into it! Eat it by the spoonful!
Brown butter hot fudge sauce with cocoa powder
Ingredients
- 25 g butter (salted or unsalted, but my vote always goes to salted)
- 25 g light brown sugar
- 10 g dutch processed cocoa
- 40ml (2 tablespoons)* milk of choice (I used full fat lactose free milk)
- Pinch of fine salt (even if you use salted butter)
- Dash of vanilla bean paste or extract
Instructions
- Place the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Allow it to cook until it bubbles up and begins to brown. It should be medium brown in colour, filled with brown flecks and it should smell nutty and toasty, not burnt.
- While you're waiting, stir the brown sugar and cocoa powder together in a small bowl.
- Once the butter is browned, add the sugar and cocoa mixture and mix with a silicone spatula to combine. Add the milk, salt and vanilla and continue mixing until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Make sure you keep scraping the bottom and edges of the saucepan to discourage any cocoa from burning.
- Cook your sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture starts to softly bubble and then thicken. It should coat the back of a spatula and look visibly thickened. The sauce does also thicken as it cools.
- Serve warm. Leftovers will keep and can be reheated but I highly doubt you will have any. Recipe can easily be scaled up.
Notes
- See notes in the body of the post.
- If you don’t like it super sweet, try 20g light brown sugar.
- See notes in the body of the post for dairy free/vegan suggestions.
- You can easily scale this recipe up.
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