Hard Sauce

I am thinking of making Hard Sauce to accompany pumpkin pie and maybe gingerbread. I have actually not ever had hard sauce so I am not only intrigued by the name but also of the fact it is an old fashioned type thing and it sounds like it might be a good respite from the traditional whipped cream. I am somewhat confused at what to expect as some of the recipes I have seen look to be almost like soft frosting in a bowl. If you are familar with hard sauce, please advise what I can expect if I make it, what is the optimum texture and consistency and whether it would be good on pumpkin pie or gingerbread.

I can remember as a kid getting totally smashed at Xmas on hard sauce and plum pudding. My mother would hang puddings in cheese cloth from just after Thanksgiving and pour brandy on them every day for a month. She served them flaming adorned with a sprig of holly. The pudding was cut and served while still flaming. The hard sauce was spooned onto the warm pudding after the flames died out.

Hard sauce is basically butter, confectioner's sugar and booze, usually rum or brandy (or rum or vanilla extract). Bourbon might work also. In fact, a bourbon hard sauce sounds delicious (GWiv, are you paying attention?). If you use liquor instead of a flavoring, you should let some of the alcohol evaporate before adding it. Anyhow, when you make the hard sauce, it should have the consistency of soft-spread margarine or whipped butter. It must be served from the refrigerator in a chilled metal bowl. That is what makes it "hard". The cold sauce has the consistency of cold margarine. It needs to be served on something warm so it melts. A small ice cream scoop works well to serve it with. It starts as a pretty solid round ball that melts and soaks into the warmed desert. It would not work on pumpkin pie, but it would be great with warm gingerbread. You could flambe the gingerbread like a figgy pudding with a high alcohol brandy or congac (100+ proof or > 50% ABV) then scoop the hard sauce onto the warm bread. Again, a high alcohol bourbon might work well also. It makes for a great show when the lights are dimmed and the flaming desert is cut and served while still burning, or if you are not into pyro-technics and boozy deserts, you could just warm it in the oven.

In summary it sounds like something you need to serve on a warm dessert. And after making it you put it in the fridge to become "hard" or at least hardened before serving. Interesting. I will have to scrap the idea of making it unless I have a warm dessert then. Still it sounds very good.

There's no single recipe for hard sauce, its highly variable, particularly the alcohol used which depends on what its accompanying. Brandy is the go to liquor though, because brandy is most often used in Christmas puds & mince pies which the sauce accompanies, but you'll see it made with rum, whiskey etc too.

That said, these are probably my favorite recipes

Almost totally traditional - icing sugar based, but a touch of vanilla
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8936 ... lla-butter

From Delia Smith, very easy & the most classic except she uses brown sugar, rather than the traditional icing
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type ... utter.html

My personal favorite, from Nigel Slater - I like the almond & zest combo with Christmas pud & its really delicious added on top of mince or apple pies.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... ter-recipe

(eta: brandy butter is just the specific name for the most common type of hard sauce).

Thanks.

Athena wrote:There's no single recipe for hard sauce, its highly variable, particularly the alcohol used which depends on what its accompanying. Brandy is the go to liquor though, because brandy is most often used in Christmas puds & mince pies which the sauce accompanies, but you'll see it made with rum, whiskey etc too.

My mom makes her puddings with brandy but uses rum in the hard sauce and cognac to flambe the pudding. I read a recipe that used maple syrup which sounded like it might be good on a warm bread pudding or fruit compote. Adding ground almonds like the recipe above suggests sounds awesome too. Cashew butter might work well too.