Kids: don't try this at home. Eating a bowl of chocolate brownies slathered in a butter-egg-sugar-alcohol mixture is not a good way to get back in shape (my post-Spring Break goal), or stay there. But if you must:
Hard Sauce
Beat until soft:
5 tablespoons butter.
Add gradually to the butter, until the mixture is smooth. Mix very thoroughly if you care about textures.
1 cup powdered sugar.
Stir in:
1 tablespoon coffee, rum, whisky, or brandy. I used cooking sherry. And yes, I only bought sherry because that's what they're always drinking on Frasier.
This step is optional. Beat in:
1 egg.
Now you have about a cup's worth of basic hard sauce.
For Spiced Hard Sauce, add:
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon (or less) cloves
My guess is that I probably wouldn't have needed the sauce if I hadn't substituted 1/2 of shortening for the 1/2 of butter in the Cocoa Indians recipe, the one substitution the recipe book specifically warns against. But no, I had to be a rebel.
There are stains all over this shirt, washed yesterday. Why do I always wear white when I'm cooking? I could probably answer that, actually (know thyself and all that) but it's a long answer of no interest to anyone.
I hope to god the slight buzz I have now is psychosomatic, or from the massive amount of sugar I'm eating and not from the 1/4 tablespoon worth of sherry I've had. I was a less-than-heroic lightweight in Germany and I'd rather not drop down into the featherweight class. And — whoa — stir the sauce before each use to distribute the alcohol evenly.
