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Hard Sauce
1/3 cup butter 1 cup powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla or other flavoring Cream the butter until very soft, then add the sugar and the flavoring. Set in a cool place until required for use. A grating of lemon-rind or nutmeg, or a sprinkle of powdered cinnamon may be used instead of vanilla. Cream or milk may be added, with more sugar to make more sauce. This sauce may be used with a hot pudding of any kind. Granulated sugar, brown sugar or maple sugar may be substituted for the powdered sugar.
A butter-and-sugar sauce that firms up cold and melts over hot pudding. The whole thing turns on temperature: soft enough to cream, cold enough to hold its shape when served.
- Powdered sugar, then and nowIn this period "powdered sugar" often meant granulated sugar ground fine, not the cornstarch-stabilized confectioners' sugar sold today. Modern confectioners' sugar works well and gives the smoothest result; sifting it before creaming prevents lumps.
- Butter temperatureThe butter should be pliable at about 65F, not melted or oily. If it breaks or looks greasy, the sauce will separate as it chills rather than setting into a firm, opaque cream.
- Salted or unsaltedHousehold butter of the period was commonly salted, and a little salt is what keeps this from tasting flatly sweet. With unsalted butter, add a pinch.
- The granulated and brown sugar variantsSubstituting granulated or maple sugar as suggested leaves a perceptible grain unless you cream at length. Brown sugar dissolves more readily and gives a butterscotch note; maple sugar should be grated or pulsed fine first.
- Adding creamCream or milk beaten in a teaspoon at a time makes a lighter, paler sauce, but it will soften faster on a hot plate and should be kept refrigerated and used the same day.
- Setting and serving"A cool place" would have meant a cold pantry, cellar or icebox; the refrigerator is the modern equivalent. Chill at least an hour; it can be mounded in a dish or pressed into a shallow pan and cut into rounds or squares to set on each hot serving.
- YieldAbout one cup, enough for six to eight servings of pudding. It keeps a week refrigerated and freezes well.