Back in the day, before the evil landlord forced me out of my spacious apartment so he could convert the building into million-dollar lofts, my wife Izabela and I threw deliciously decadent holiday dessert parties.

Forget Truman Capote's Black and White Ball. This was the Black and White Cookie Bash.

Izabela made at least a dozen types of sweets. Several of her friends who baked contributed their own favorite confections. ... And I, well, I worked hard, too. I cleaned the house and bought the champagne. Why get in the way?

Cookies, cakes, tarts, chocolate truffles. You name it, we served it. By the time the feast reached its late-night peak everyone was sufficiently suffering from sugar shock — and chattering on really fast. Willy Wonka would've been sated.

But for all the celebrating — I don't want to speculate if Izabela was being greedy or prudent because of the potential mess — we never did make-your-own sundaes with absolutely the best hot fudge sauce I ever had. Izabela got the recipe from her friend Mitchell Davis, who says he tweaked a recipe his sister gave him. You can now find it in his cookbook, "Kitchen Sense: More than 600 Recipes to Make You a Great Home Cook."

I know. Everyone has their own beloved hot fudge sauce. Everyone is wrong.

Let me just say that I am an expert in all things hot fudge. My credentials: I worked at an ice cream shop for almost three years during high school and would, on occasion, sip the sauce with a straw (for competitive purposes, of course). How did I honor many a Little League victory? Hot fudge sundaes at Friendly's. I've also been known to suggest trips to Peter Luger, the best steakhouse in New York, just for its sundae, which is pretty close to perfection.

Feel free to pull out your family recipe and do a taste test. But don't bother if heavy cream isn't among the ingredients.

What makes this sauce unequivocally the best is, for one, the cream and chocolate combination. As Izabela dutifully explained to me, in baking the two are combined to create a versatile mixture called ganache. Depending on the quality of the chocolate, ganache can be a luxurious cake filling or icing. Truffles are basically ganache.

Another thing that makes this recipe supreme is the use of espresso or coffee and cinnamon. It gives the sauce some sass. You shouldn't taste either; they're there to enhance the chocolate.

One more reason to make your own hot fudge: It takes about 20 minutes from start to sundae. And there is nothing tricky about it.

You don't need to buy the fanciest chocolate chips. We used Nestle semisweet. The key is not to burn it.

So when it's time to melt the chocolate and butter you should use a double boiler — a technique for cooking delicate foods and sauces with indirect heat. Most cookware companies make an insert that fits into the pot, but you can improvise.

What you do is fill a saucepan part way with water and place it on low heat. Then, put the ingredients in a heat-safe bowl and set it on the pan — the bowl should not touch the water and the water should not boil. Chocolate has a low melting point and an aversion to extreme heat. It also does not react kindly to getting wet.

Now comes the crucial part: making the sundae.

First, put one scoop of ice cream in the glass — preferably vanilla for the classic dessert. Then spoon some hot fudge on top. If the hot fudge is too hot it'll melt the ice cream, too cold and it'll be gloppy. Add more ice cream and fudge. Finally, you top the ice cream with whipped cream, chopped and toasted peanuts, and a cherry. The peanuts should be salted. Chocolate and salt are a magical combo.

Or you could just forget the ice cream. This stuff is so good you can eat it with a spoon.

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HOT FUDGE SAUCE

Makes 1 quart

6 ounces chocolate chips or chopped bittersweet chocolate

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)

1/4 cup coffee or espresso

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 cup heavy cream

pinch of salt

pinch of cinnamon

1. Over low heat, melt the chocolate and butter in a double-boiler (a mixing bowl over a saucepan filled with of water).

2. Mix the sugar, cocoa, espresso. Stir in the melted chocolate.

3. Add corn syrup, heavy cream, salt and cinnamon and stir.

4. Whisk the sauce in a heavy saucepan over low heat until the sugar dissolves and the texture is smooth. If you feel granules of sugar it's not done.

The sauce will keep in the fridge for several months and can be frozen for a year.

Kitchen Idiot Howie Rumberg is an asap reporter based in New York. You can e-mail him at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

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