Dessert Sauces

When I was about 4 years old, I would agonize for hours about how to spend a dime at the Breslows’ candy store/soda fountain down at the end of our small-town street. Just behind the marble counter, each of the fountain’s gleaming knobs promised a different syrup to flavor an ice cream soda or drizzle over ice cream: chocolate, strawberry, cherry, butterscotch, “wet nuts” (walnuts in syrup) and vanilla syrup for cream soda. A separate metal compartment held my favorite—hot fudge.