As a little girl, we spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s house.  Weekends, weeknights, holidays, you name it we were there a lot.  We got to see our cousins and spend time with our grandparents and I am so grateful that I have those memories now.  While I don’t remember a lot of things that my grandmother cooked, I do remember her hot chocolate caramel sauce which we would ladle over ice-cream for a special treat on birthdays or holidays.  It is a staple in our family and some of us (not naming any names…) have been known to whip up a batch after drinking a few too many glasses of wine and eat it directly out of the pan.  It is that good.  It is old fashioned tasting- grainy, caramely and downright chewy if you leave it on the stove too long.  It hardens upon touching ice-cream and is good hot or cold.  It is a recipe we have memorized and use all the time when we want something special.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

1 1/2 squares semi sweet chocolate

splash of vanilla

Place milk in a saucepan and cook over low heat until warm add chocolate and cook until it is melted.  Add sugar and bring to a boil.  Lower heat a bit and cook until consistency you want is reached.  For us that was about twelve to fifteen minutes.  Mixture will continue to be at a slow rolling boil.  Add vanilla.  Serve!   It is a combination of chocolate sauce and candy all in one.