Cooking 101 - Chocolate Sauce (Ganache)

Wanna quick, easy, last-minute, AMAZING Valentine gift idea?!  (the reason I even did  this is that my son's Valentine party is tomorrow???!!!...I know...why not on V-day?)  I'm giving one of these to my boy's teacher - and she's not going to know what hit her.  It's ganache (guh-nosh) and when you drizzle this hot stuff over some good French vanilla ice cream, the world literally stops turning!!!  (I know that for a fact.)

Okay, so my "label" has much to be desired, but I didn't have time nor patience for a detailed explanation of the contents in the jar. If  you got this gift with some ice cream and it looks like chocolate and says, "heat & serve" - wouldn't  you know what to do??  I hope so.

So here's how it's done:

Take about 1 to 1 1/2 c. of heavy cream and heat it up to boiling, stirring constantly so as not to scorch the cream.

Have your chocolate chips in a bowl ready and waiting - go ahead, use the whole stinking bag.

 You MUST use Ghirardelli.  No exceptions.

 Aren't the morsels delicious?!  Can you smell the chocolate?!

 When your cream starts to boil, gently pour it into the chips - a little at a time so you don't get soupy chocolate.

 Whisk in the hot cream - it will look light and clumpy at first, but then...

 ...you get this gorgeous rich sauce.  If it's too thick, add more cream.

 I happen to have a stockpile of baby food jars available.  They're PERFECT because they're just the right size for this sauce as a gift.  You don't use very much of it at one time, so a little goes a long way.  Find whatever little jars you can.  Keep in mind that the contents of this sauce aren't cheap and it doesn't go very far.  Think LITTLE jars.

 And now decorate the heck out of your jar.  For my fabric covering, it's about 4 inches square with a little glue on the top of the lid to secure it.  Glue helps a lot.

Because my jars had that sticky crap where the baby food label was, I had to cover it up so I cut a strip of pink paper.  Not necessary, but definitely a solution.

 Give it away by itself or grab a small half-pint of ice cream to go with it!  And you'll always be remembered as the really classy lady who gave the most delicious, rich chocolate sauce that made the world stop turning.  Yes...now go be that lady...you amazing thing, you.