[1] Just buy four ingredients and assemble (photo © Sticky Walnut).

[2] Use a good chocolate sauce for this recipe, or it can get cloying. King’s Cupboard, one of our favorite brands, has Bittersweet, Organic, Espresso, Sea Salt, and Sugar-Free hot fudge sauces. You can buy them online (photo © King’s Cupboard).

[3] How to make a brownie into a more special dessert? Garnish with a bit of fudge sauce and whipped cream (photo © Dreamstime).

[4] Add a chocolate garnish to tarts and other desserts (photo © King’s Cupboard | Facebook).

[5] The most popular use for hot fudge: a hot fudge sundae (photo © Lauri Patterson | iStock Photo).

When we came across this photo in our Twitter feed, we were reminded of a favorite dessert of our young adulthood: a toasted pound cake sundae with hot fudge or caramel.

After our neighborhood Rocking Horse Café closed, our source of an immediate fix was gone. And for some reason, nobody else was selling them then, and even now, to the best of our knowledge.

Why not?

It’s the easiest “fancy” dessert to make at home—that is, if you buy the ingredients instead of making them all from scratch, as is done by Sticky Walnut restaurant in Chester, England.

So there’s no need to get out the cake pans, the ice cream machine, and the double boiler.

Sticky Walnut’s dessert, which they call “a lovely little indulgent way to finish off your meal,” reminds us that it doesn’t have to be a big portion.

They topped the square of cake with mint chocolate ice cream and dark chocolate sauce.

So here’s your shopping list:

 
If you choose to toast the pound cake, it will not get soggy as quickly.

However, is there something worse than a piece of pound cake drenched with chocolate sauce and melting ice cream?

The big question is:

Is this cake à la mode, or a pound cake ice cream sundae?

Whichever, it’s delicious.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF HOT FUDGE SAUCE

Simple chocolate sauces likely existed shortly after cacao came to the Old World in the 16th century. The ground beans were first made into hot chocolate, following the beverage usage for cacao by the Aztecs, Mayas, and other Central Americans.

But cooks in Spain and Italy who experimented with the cacao beans no doubt ported the ground beans they used for beverages into sauces, both sweet and savory. We know that in 1674 there were chocolate puddings and pastilles* [source].

Pharmacists first created chocolate syrups with cocoa powder and sugar in the 19th century. In 1828 that a chemist in the Netherlands, Coenrad J. Van Houten, took out a patent for a process to manufacture a type of chocolate with a much-reduced fat content. This chocolate, which was made in block or cake form, could be easily reduced to a fine powder—i.e., cocoa powder.

Cocoa powder was one step away from chocolate syrup: Just mix the powder with sugar and water. The popularity of pharmacist-made chocolate syrup exploded in the late 19th century [source].

Chocolate sauce vs. chocolate syrup: A syrup is a flavored sugar solution.

 
 
Finally, Hot Fudge Sauce

Real hot fudge sauce came in the late-19th century. The first hot fudge sauces likely resulted from early fudge-making failures, when the ingredients that wouldn’t solidify into fudge were eaten up with a spoon (the history of fudge).

By the 20th century, people began deliberately undercooking fudge so they could serve it warm over ice cream, creating banana splits, hot fudge sundaes, and other soda fountain treats.

The hot fudge sundae was one of many ice cream sodas, floats, and sundaes that were created during Prohibition, when the bars were closed and many people hung out at the soda shop (often the soda counter of the local drugstore).

Fudge sauce is different from ordinary chocolate sauce, which is made from cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and vanilla.

Fudge sauce adds cream and butter. It’s made like those early fudge failures: It’s fudge that never sets.

Cream or milk, sugar, and butter are slowly boiled down until slightly thickened and light caramel-colored. The boiling-down process not only gives the sauce a thicker texture, but also contributes to the “fudgy” taste of the sauce.

Today, hot fudge sauce recipes almost always include corn syrup, which contains anti-setting properties that prevent fudge from turning into thick fudge candy regardless of the cooking time [source].
 
 
> The history of the sundae.

> The history of pound cake.

> The history of ice cream.

*There are different definitions for “pastille.” Today, in the U.K., they refer to chewy gel candies (like Rountree’s). On the Continent, they are small hard candies used for lozenges, flavored with fruit or herbs. Still other companies, like Droste, sell tubes of small, flat, round chocolate pieces they call pastilles. The original pastilles were the latter, hard chocolate.

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Serve biscuits instead of other breads or crackers with appetizer plates, cheese boards, dips, spreads, and specialties like Baked Brie (photos #1, #2, and #3).

Whether warm from the oven or room temperature, they’re that much more of a treat.

Below:

> What’s a biscuit?

> The different types of biscuits.

> Yummy biscuit recipes.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of biscuits.

> The history of bread.

> The different types of bread.
 
 
WHAT IS A BISCUIT?

In the U.K., ask for a “biscuit” and you may be surprised.

• In the U.K., a biscuit is a cookie or a cracker, not a bread product.
• What Americans think of as a roll or biscuit is a scone in the U.K.
• An American roll is a British cob.
• An American English muffin is a British muffin (the history of the English muffin—invented by a British immigrant to the U.S.).
• A bun in the U.K. may look like a kind of American roll, but it is sweet, what Americans call a sweet roll or sweet bun.
• A burger bun is called a bap. And so on, and so forth.

> Here’s a longer discussion of the different American and British terms.
 
 
10 TYPES OF BISCUITS

• Angel Biscuits. These lighter, fluffier biscuits are made with yeast. They rise before being baked.
• Beaten Biscuits. A historic Southern staple, these are “beaten” with a mallet or heavy handle until the dough blisters. The result is a dense, crisp, almost cracker-like texture.
• Cathead Biscuits. Technically a variation of the drop or buttermilk biscuit, but deserving of their own mention because of their sheer scale: “as big as a cat’s head,” with lot of soft, fluffy interior under the crust crust.
• Cream Biscuits. Instead of cutting in cold butter, heavy cream is both the fat and the liquid. More tender richer, and milkier flavor than standard buttermilk biscuits.
• Drop Biscuits. A wet dough is dropped from a spoon onto a baking sheet. They’re not shapely like cut-out rounds, but just as delicious.
• Dumplings. The dumplings in the chicken and dumplings recipe are actually smaller drop biscuits. The biscuits are steamed in a pot rather than baked, and are served atop a hearty chicken stew.

 
There are numerous variations on the above. For example:

• Self-rising biscuits are made with self-rising flour.
• Sourdough biscuits are made with sourdough starter.

 

[4] The different biscuit categories (photo: The Nibble).
 
 
MORE BISCUIT RECIPES

• Bacon & Sweet Potato Biscuits
• Cheddar Chive Biscuits
• Chipotle Cheddar Biscuits
• Dill Biscuits With Smoked Salmon
• Glazed Ham On A Biscuit With a Balsamic Reduction
• Ham & Gouda Biscuits
• Reuben Biscuits
• Sarabeth’s Buttermilk Biscuits

 
 

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[1] Dutch Apple Pie, a year-round favorite. The pies are sold frozen (all photos © Raised Gluten Free).

[2] Strawberry Rhubarb Pie is a popular spring and summer choice.

[3] Who doesn’t love Blueberry Bliss pie?

[4] Lemon Tart.

[5] Berry Peach Pie, along with Apple Pie, is sold at nearly all Whole Foods locations.

[6] Seasonal pumpkin pie.

[7] Tempting Chocolate Silk Pie.

Raised Gluten Free serves the growing demand for quality gluten-free baked goods with both sweet and savory pies. Made in small batches at a dedicated, certified gluten-free bakery in Northern California, the pies are not just gluten-free; they’re also vegan, nut-free, kosher pareve, and Non-GMO Project Verified.

The business was founded by two friends, Rosa Dixon and Milia Lando, in 2011. Both had food allergies and became passionate about creating delicious treats for families with food restrictions.

While there are more options in stores these days, back then finding tasty, gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free, and egg-free products was a struggle.

But today, Raised Gluten Free has a delicious complement of:

 
The team currently produces 2,000 pies a day. Using a simple pie press, skilled bakers make the dough, shape the crusts, and hand-mix fruit fillings.

The seven-ounce pies are sold frozen—easy to keep on hand for when your sweet tooth (or company) calls.

Raised Gluten Free’s Apple Pie and Berry Peach Pie are sold at nearly all Whole Foods Market locations, plus at Fresh Thyme, Gelson’s, Kroger Stores, Market of Choice, Mom’s Organic Market, Nugget Markets, Safeway/Vons, and independent natural food stores across the country—a total of 3,500 locations.

> Here’s a store locator.

> Check out the company website for more information.
 
 
WE TASTE THE PIES!

As the box states, Raised Gluten Free pies are gluten-free, peanut-free, vegan, yummy delights in a category that rarely transcends any one of these restrictions.

I was very curious if they would approach the elusive holy-grail of gluten-free baking and produce a tender, flaky pie crust so I tested both their Dutch Apple Pie and Strawberry Rhubarb varieties.

— Georgi Page-Smith
 
 
Raised Gluten Free Dutch Apple Pie

An apple pie is a perfect baseline with which to evaluate the competency of a baker and Raised’s Dutch Apple pie boded very well for the rest of their line.

Bite after bite of this piquant pie delivered exceptional flavor, texture, and dimension.

The apples were fresh and vibrant, their solidity and structure complementing the flakiness of the crust.

Epic spices included a bold, rich cinnamon that tasted as if it had been ground the same morning, fresh off of a boat from Sri Lanka. The streusel provided variety, punctuating the apples at regular intervals with their playful crunch.

My first small flake of the crust did not do it justice: It was delicious but fleeting. Small morsels of buttery flavored crust quickly intermingled with the filling, cobbler-style, eluding my grasp.

It was a good substrate, but because there was not a lot of it, its star was somewhat dimmed by the hearty apples. While I certainly did scrape the sides of the tin for every last bit, I was left wanting more of this very good vegan crust.

Crust aficionados: you may have to make do with a big scoop of ice cream to layer between delicious bites of apple.

Food Trivia: The top layer is the main difference between a regular apple pie and a Dutch apple pie. Traditional apple pies have a top layer made from pie crust, while Dutch apple pies have a crumb topping.
 
 
Raised Gluten Free Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

My much-anticipated sampling of Raised’s seasonal Strawberry Rhubarb pie also did not disappoint! This was a tart, jammy confection complimented perfectly by a scoop of ice cream.

This is the pie to buy if you are a rhubarb fan, a strawberry fan, and/or a streusel fan; the three together were an engrossing dessert experience that commanded my full attention with their assertive textures and flavors.

This is not a mass-produced pie that has had all of the flavor engineered out of it; it is a home-style, handcrafted pie that commits to a definite point of view.
 
 
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

If most desserts are a party in your mouth, Raised Gluten Free pies would be a square dance!

All in all, Raised pies manage a very difficult feat: a gluten-free dessert pie with a rambunctious homemade flavor and texture—and a delicious crunchy crust!

The pies heat well and pair magnificently with ice cream or your favorite dairy-free equivalent.

Food Trivia: While rhubarb originated in China and wild strawberries originated in Europe and Asia, it took a while for them to get together.

Rhubarb was first used medicinally, and it was not cultivated for food until 1750 in Germany. The strawberry was first cultivated in Europe in the 1300s and it, too, was used medicinally*. Strawberry rhubarb pie appeared in Germany and the U.K. in the 1700s.

* The ancient Romans were staunch believers in the curative powers of the strawberry. They believed it relieved melancholy and masked bad breath. According to the ancients, strawberries could cure inflammations, fevers, throat infections, kidney stones, gout, fainting spells, and diseases of the blood, liver, and spleen. By the time the strawberry was cultivated in France in the 13th century, medicine was also a key use. The roots, leaves, and fruits of the Alpine Strawberry, Fragaria vesca, were used as a digestive aid and skin tonic. The strawberry was also prescribed for diarrhea and digestive upset, while the leaves and roots were used to relieve gout [source].

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