I keep hoping to find a copycat recipe for Twohey’s bittersweet hot fudge - pretty much my ideal ice cream accompaniment.
I haven’t had the chance to try Twohey’s hot fudge but my go to recipe is Maida Heatter’s. Despite what the blog post says it’s very flexible- you don’t need to use cream (I tend to use half and half or even milk in a pinch), light brown sugar works fine and we just use Hershey’s cocoa powder most of the time instead of Dutch process cocoa powder. You can also just melt the butter and dissolve the sugar in the microwave.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s richer and smoother with cream and higher quality chocolate will taste better but if you don’t have those on hand you’ll still get a super fudgy sauce that thickens enough to be chewable. I think when I first made it I was trying to imitate Leatherby’s hot fudge from Sacramento if that’s a useful benchmark.
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Oh man. I grew up with Twohey’s in SGV. It was one of our hangouts in high school.
What have you tried for a recipe? We like darker more bitter chocolates so in recipes usually swap out the milk chocolate part with bittersweet 80% or higher chocolate. I also really like throwing in a little coffee to enhance the chocolate taste.
Oh, that looks interesting! Thanks for sharing! Have you tried Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder? That’s what I used in that pic. My wife doesn’t like the flavor balance of Ghiradelli products and Callebaut can be hit or miss with her.
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I tend to buy the large Smart and Final Hershey cocoa powders which doesn’t include special dark but now that I have a recommendation I’ll check it out!
They sell them at some Rite-Aids (incl the one near me).
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Ahh, I haven’t noticed. Thanks! I haven’t been in one in quite a while, probably won’t be in the near future, but will definitely keep in mind next time I go in. If they’re that easily available, I might just get one for regular use, just for pure nostalgia 
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Smart & Final is where I got our current Hershey’s dark container. But they only have it in the regular 8 oz size.
Ralphs has it, too (but presumably only regular size).
I was at Smart & Final stocking up and grabbed a Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder (only 8oz but that’s plenty to start with). Thanks for the recommendation @Jase and @paranoidgarliclover!
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A very useful benchmark, @WireMonkey - Leatherby’s was my first experience in an ice cream parlour (part of a run down the mountain to the big city adventure) and, as best I can recall, my first time having a sundae AND tasting hot fudge. I was five years or younger - what a grand memory. 
The Maida Heatter’s recipe looks quite doable; thank you for the recommendation and link (I’ve now spent quite a bit of time exploring that blog; am ashamed to admit that while I know Heatter’s name I’ve never explored her recipes - I tend to cook at the savory end of the spectrum and purchase pre-made sweeter items).
Good to know my cultural touchstones aren’t completely lost on folks!
That’s fair, if I hadn’t grown up with Heatter’s books in the house I’m not 100% sure I would’ve known about her either. It’s not on the blog but the other recipe I make from her semi-regularly is an almond flour torte called Queen Mother’s Cake. I’m not much of a baker but if I had to pick only a handful of sweets to make the rest of my life this torte would probably make top three.
The original instructions had a few arcane directions but I noticed some had been updated in the 2019 “Happiness Is Baking” book. The updates seem to make some aspects easier (like the almond meal) but I haven’t had a chance to test them out.
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