Herrell's Almond Hot Fudge Sauce

Six months and a few days ago, I wandered into Herrell's to get an ice cream with a girl I'd never met. We hit it off pretty damned well.

And six months ago today, she asked me to be her girlfriend.

I know six months might not seem like a lot of time to most people, but it's like half a lifetime for most infants, and that's nothing short of incredible. So tonight, to celebrate dating for half a year, Keepitcoming and I made a wonderful dinner with roasted chicken, mashed red potatoes, and icebox cake for dessert- drizzled with Herrell's almond hot fudge sauce.It's no secret as to why people come to Herrell's. It's cute and funky and the ice cream is jaw-droppingly, orgasmically, eye-rollingly insane- but the fudge is the cherry on top. It's made with fresh cream and butter and all the things that diabetes is made of, but it's good enough to bathe in and is perfectly textured.

I think the hallmark of a really incredible hot fudge sauce is the texture. Pouring this onto the icebox cake after warming it up, it flooded down the sides in thick ribbons but still adhered to the surface. This sauce is smooth, kids, and we're talking smooth like Smoove B riding a white unneutered stallion to Switzerland to pick up the finest chocolates and jazz CD's. That kind of smooth.A few slugs on a piece of anything basically creates a dessert, but the most important thing about this is how accurate the flavor is. Almond-flavored anything can be a little dodgy, especially when paired with something as strong as dark chocolate, and I find that with a lot of products, the nut flavor fades into the background while the chocolate takes center stage. Not this. This tastes like fresh marzipan or genuine, untoasted almonds mixed into an incredibly rich chocolate base. It was perfectly sweetened and tasted natural. I know that word is thrown around these days, but something about this sauce just tasted really genuine. It was outstanding.

We'll probably go back to Herrell's in six months to celebrate when the weather is warmer and have some ice cream, but for now, it was a really special treat to stay in and cook knowing that was in store for dessert. And it went fabulously with the icebox cake.