Warmer, clear, sunny and hot fudge sauce or chocolate syrup

Good Morning Augusta

This morning we have a lot of sunshine with a high near 80ºF. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.

Tonight we’ll have partly cloudy skies followed by increasing clouds with a 40% chance of showers developing after midnight. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable.

The readings from my weather instruments are:

Humidity is 67%, the dew point is 53ºF and outside it’s  64.5ºF.

The wind direction is  West between 6.5 MPH and 7.9 MPH, with a heat index of ºF.

The Barometric pressure is 29.60 and rising with a weather graphic indicating sun.

The UV rating is 1 out of 16, Sunrise is 4:55 a.m. Sunset is 8:27 P.M. Moon rise is 3:49 a.m., Moon set is 6:43 p.m., and the moon phase is waning crescent being 4% illuminated.

The RAW METAR reading from Augusta’s airport this morning is:

METAR KAUG 221053Z AUTO 27005KT 10SM CLR 17/11 A2992 RMK AO2 SLP132 T01720111

Visibility is 10.0 Miles / 16.1 kilometers with clear skies.

We didn’t receive any rain here over the past 24 hours.

Space Weather for this morning is:

Today’s Solar flux is 72, the solar wind speed is 783 Kilometers per second and the chance of a solar storm is 1%.

Okay, now that you’ve made yesterday’s blueberry sauce, I thought you’d like to know how to make your own hot fudge sauce for hot fudge sundaes, and your own chocolate syrup for those Chocolate ice cream sodas you love so much.

HOT FUDGE SAUCE

½ cup heavy cream

3 tblsp. butter, cut into small pieces

1 sq. unsweetened chocolate

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

Pinch of salt

½ cup strained unsweetened cocoa powder

Place cream, butter, and unsweetened chocolate in a heavy 1-quart saucepan over moderate heat.  Stir until butter and chocolate are melted and the cream just comes to a low boil.  Add both sugars and stir for a few minutes until the sugars are dissolved.  (Test: taste it until you don’t feel any granules on your tongue.)

Reduce the heat.  Add the salt and cocoa and stir briskly with a small wire whisk until smooth.  Remove from the heat.

This should be thick, but if it’s too thick, stir in a very little bit of hot water.

Serve immediately, refrigerate to store, reheat a few seconds at a time in the microwave.

 

HOME-MADE CHOCOLATE SYRUP (beats Hershey’s any day!)

1 cup strained unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups cold water (or cold black coffee)

2 cups granulated sugar

¼ tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. vanilla

In a heavy 2-quart saucepan off the heat, stir with a wire whisk the cocoa and water (or coffee) until smooth.  Place over moderate heat, change to a rubber spatula, and stir, scraping the bottom constantly until the mixture comes to a low boil.  Add the sugar and salt and stir until dissolved.  Bring to a low boil again and let simmer slowly for 3 minutes.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.  Stir in the vanilla.

Store in airtight jars in the refrigerator.