- 2
Ingredients
- 1 cup (250ml) whole milk or half-and-half
- 6 tablespoons (3 ounces, 85g) salted butter, cubed
- 1/4 cup (45g) packed light brown sugar
- 8 ounces (230g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Scant 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
Preparation
Step 1
, which has had most of the minerals removed. So often I’ll use salt more liberally in desserts than others, including adding salted butter to ramp up the flavor.
The difference between salts can be considerable; kosher salt is readily available in the United States, sea salt is harvested all over the world and is usually more delicate and nuanced than other salts (and is my preference), and table salt – well, that should be avoided because it’s unpleasantly harsh and usually contains additives. But no matter where you are or what you’re using, it’s best just to get to know the salts that are available where you are, and use your natural instincts to dial the amount up or down in your cooking.
quite a bit, I’ve been making this chocolate sauce that makes use of salted butter, with an extra sprinkle of salt added, more and more these days because I like it so much. It transforms a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream into something a little more special. But it’s not bad spooned up and enjoyed right from the jar, either.
Makes 2 cups (500ml)
1. Heat the milk, butter, and brown sugar in a saucepan until it begins to steam.
2. Remove from heat and add the chocolate, vanilla, and salt, stirring gently until the chocolate is melted and the sauce is smooth.
I love salt on sweet things, especially chocolate, but I always find it hard to gauge the salt content of salted butter as different brands always seem to vary, so I usually bake with unsalted butter and then add in salt. I might try this sauce with smoked sea salt as I’m a bit obsessed with that at the moment!
I recently read somewhere that salt was originally added to butter (eons ago) to help preserve it and keep it from going rancid in a time before refrigeration. (I think it was an article on Brittany, France.)
Do you serve ice cream on a plate instead of in a bowl because it’s going to disappear too fast to melt all over the place?
I LOVE chocolate and salt. Just the darkest chocolate you can find and a flake of Maldon sea salt is enough of a dessert sometimes! I have experimented with coconut oil instead of butter and it’s 100% fat content can be too much sometimes and it splits. However if you want to use coconut milk instead of half and half, make sure to use the full fat version in a can. And obviously know that you’ll get a coconuty flavor. I have found the nut milks work better if you make your own (which isn’t that hard to do). (ps. I love salt so much I wrote this story about it:
Caroline, I grew up in TN but my family is from small town MS and we always, always put salt on watermelon and cantelope! My father also put salt on half a grapefruit, which he ate every day of his life. One of the best parts of licking the stirring portion of the hand-cranked ice cream machine was getting some of that rock salt in your bite!
Beautiful pictures!! My best friend loves things like this; I’m so happy to have a good recipe to make for her. BTW: I have almost always baked my cookies with salted butter–perhaps it comes from baking with my mom. I don’t remember unsalted butter in the store when I was a child; who knows? Just for grins, I checked the first cookbooks I used as a young cook. Early ’70s BETTY CROCKER just says “butter,” as does my same-era James Beard’s BREAD BOOK. SILVER PALATE-early ’80s), my next big jump in book styles (and still a favorite) says, “sweet butter,” for their choc chip cookies. I will note that my mom, a nurse, always reminded me that only regular old, American table salt contains iodine, so I make a habit of keeping it on my kitchen counter and try to remember to use it somewhat regularly.
I make chocolate chip cookies with brown butter and I ALWAYS salt the top with sea salt before baking them. It just takes the cookie to the absolute next level of deliciousness! My teenage son loves them that way. After we saw the Modern Family episode you mentioned, he started adding salt to his chocolate milk!
Salt is a complete must; it makes sweet food less sweet, yet amps up the flavor by volumes. There are so many recipes for salted caramel sauce, I’m glad to see one for salted chocolate sauce!
One other thing. Unless recipes call specifically for unsalted butter, they are intended to use salted butter. And then salt is added as a separate ingredient. A good thing to keep in mind.
David – an addition to the jams I normally give people for Christmas and hostess gifts. Won’t they be surprised!!!!!
I think I am in a minority as I have never liked unsalted butter! Default butter here is salted, and unsalted was always “a great treat” – no thank you, you can keep it! My absolute favourite butter is the one with salt crystals in,which luckily you can get here, at a price, but that is only ever used as a spread in its own right, not with anything added!
As for salt, I do use table salt in boiling water for eggs or pasta – life is too short to make with the salt grinder then – but most other things are seasoned with ground sea salt.
I usually put more salt than is called for in my brownie recipe. It just adds a special taste.
Fat and juicy Sweet Corn were 5 for £1.00.. they went straight into my basket and the pan is boiling as I type.
Claire, my grandparents also salted other fruit such as cantaloupes and apple slices! And I have fond memories of helping my grandfather make homemade vanilla icecream in the hand-cranked machine on the back porch. I rarely taste a vanilla icecream that good. :-)
You are so right it does make a BIG difference I like your idea of bringing your own fleur de sel must try that
I think I may have just found a replacement for my Sanders Hot Fudge. Looks delicious!
I completely agree with limiting processed foods to reduce salt intake and then using good salt as you want to in your own cooking. Also love the idea of bringing your own salt to a restaurant–now I, too, know what to do with those Maldon tins at Sur La Table. I once asked for salt in a restaurant and they wouldn’t give it to me because the chef said the food was perfectly seasoned as it was–c’mon, we’re all different! I also participated in a presentation in Napa with the editors of Gourmet and they made brownies with and without salt–what a difference! And when we first tasted the bread in Italy, after much anticipation, we were stunned by how flat it was–they make it without salt! Since they tend to eat it with a lot of salty charcuterie, perhaps it isn’t so much of an issue. Also, it doesn’t get moldy as it ages and can be used in soups and the like (no waste, very thrifty). Apparently in the old days, salt was heavilly taxed and they tried to limit its usage for that reason, too. Fascinating condiment!
David, you suggest trying to make bread without salt. My understanding (correct me if I’m wrong) is that the yeast won’t work properly without salt being added. The salt slows down the yeast and without salt, the dough will rise rapidly and then collapse. So, salt not only serves as a flavour, but as a bonafide necessary ingredient.
I always have the salted Lindt chocolate bars in my fridge–delicious and crunchy when cold. We grew up on salted butter. I’ve always used it in baking with never a problem. Whenever a restaurant serves unsalted butter, I’m always reaching for the salt shaker! We, too, were in that southern US crowd who always salted melon, primarilly cantaloupe. And, some of my fondest childhood memories are my mother and grandmother making hot chocolate using bars of dark chcolate, evaporated milk and a sprinkling of salt. Can’t wait to try your chocolate sauce. Bet it’s divine made with evaporated milk.
My younger son has a dairy allergy, so I’ve had a lot of practice using substitutes in baking. I don’t know if you’re in the US, but Earth’s Balance spread is a very good substitute for butter, and hazelnut milk works very well in sauces. There’s also a product at Trader Joe’s called Coconut Cream (in a can) that is the equivalent of a full can of the fat you find in cans of coconut milk that works very well to augment milk substitutes by adding more fat and body.
Thanks for your great blog. I am addicted.
I didn’t know Lindt makes salted chocolate. I luv Lindt. Going to get me some. Thanks for sharing!
This sounds fabulous! I am also a pastry chef (I work for Kathleen Stewart’s daughter in law Liza Hinman @ THE SPINSTER SISTERS). I use salt to up flavor contrast in most of my desserts. Chocolate, caramel like you, but also in my fruit desserts, especially pies. I find that adding salt and acid to ripe fruit lessens the one dimensional sweetness. Thanks so much for your blog and recipes! Also I have gotten lots of inspiration from READY FOR DESSERT!
What really caught my eye in this post was the photo of the Lindt – Fleur de Sel bar…. my favorite! I am addicted, and always wanted to try and bake something with it. The closest I have to that was to make hot chocolate with it…yum!
I’m so stuck on your other chocolate sauce recipe I can’t bear to not have it around! It makes the best chocolate milk, ever, and it’s bitter enough that it pairs much better with ice cream than the typical hot fudge sauce. It has also gotten me so accustomed to that bitter chocolate flavor that sauces made with milk or cream just seem less chocolatey to me now. Plus, it’s fat free so it can be stored in the fridge longer. I use the Lindt Excellence 70% cocoa bar as the added chocolate. I just recently made some using their sea salt chocolate. It’s less bitter as the chocolate is lighter. But, since the original chocolate sauce is your recipe and you didn’t steer me wrong, I’ll try this one next. (as soon as my latest original sauce batch runs out!)
Oh, one more thing…the chocolate that you use can really make a difference, so use the best chocolate you can get (I like the Lindt, the price is right and it’s readily available). I’ve used typical grocery store brands (Hersheys, Nestles and even Ghiradelli cooking chocolate, not choc chips) and have had problems with graininess in the sauce…and it’s not that the sugar was cooked improperly, it’s the chocolate! The regular brands don’t seem to melt into the sauce as smoothly. What’s up with that?
Carolyn: Salt does inhibit (or kill) yeast so it’s usually added to bread after the yeast has had a chance to act. Salt not just for flavor, but because it also helps to arrest the development of the yeast and control it. In Tuscany, they make bread without salt still, which is an old tradition. As @Gavrielle noted, it’s not necessarily a pleasant experience eating it, at least on its own.
juliet: You certainly could use that chocolate, although it’s probably more expensive and I just used regular chocolate, and added my own salt.
Charlene: Salt was demonized for so long, and while it’s true there is a lot in processed foods and fast-foods, when you cook for yourself, you see and gauge how much salt you are eating. Finishing salts, that you put on top or add at the end, give you a “hit” of salt without oversalting the entire dish (or sauce) which is why I tend to use flaky salts and so forth in my cooking.
Jeff: Unsweetened chocolate is different than bittersweet or semisweet as the latter 2 both have sugar added. Unsweetened chocolate does not. You can read more about chocolate at my
Oh wow, I am making this soon! Looks delicious. I am a bit of a salt fiend, and I’ve always appreciated salt in baked goods. I’ve never understood recipes that call for unsalted butter, it usually results in flat tasting desserts, even if salt is added. I made shortbread with unsalted butter once and it was practically inedible, or at least not worth the calories for me.
Hi David, I used this recipe as a starting point for a star anise flavoured chocolate sauce. It received really good reviews and was easy to make, so thank you. Hoping you won’t mind that I messed around with your recipe…
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