Simple Berry Sauce

Rabu, 19 November 2014

Simple Berry Sauce

This might be the simplest recipe I keep in my dessert recipe notebook. I scribbled it out on a scrap of paper about 15 years ago while I was visiting a friend. We were dishing up bowls of ice cream and her husband told us to wait a minute. He combined some frozen fruit and a bit of sugar in a saucepan, simmered a few minutes and then transformed that basic bowl of ice cream into something much more elegant. I was speechless (yes, imagine that) over the difference the warm fruit sauce made over that dish of ice cream. Lest you think this sauce is only good as an ice cream topping, I also poured this over the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake ^[1] I made last week.

I've made this simple topping countless times over the years, using whichever fruits I happened to have in the freezer at the time. A mix of different berries is my favorite combination, the different fruit flavors always combine so well together. I've never served this to guests without rave reviews. There is something awesome about the way the warm fruits melt down into the cold ice cream. The sauce can be made ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator. Just reheat for a moment when ready to serve.

Simple Berry Sauce
Yield: 1 1/4 cups
(printable recipe)
^[2]

2 cups frozen berries (I used a mixture of cherries, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries)
1/3 sugar

Place the frozen fruit and the sugar in a small saucepan. Set the heat to low, stirring occasionally, until the berries have softened. This should take between 5-10 minutes. Once the berries are mostly thawed, increase the heat to medium. Mash them with a potato masher and stir constantly while the liquid simmers for about 2 minutes. Pour the warm mixture over vanilla ice cream or let cool and then serve with the dessert of your choice. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use. Enjoy!