DIY Chocolate Syrup

Have you ever read the ingredient list on a bottle of Hershey's syrup? Have a look:

HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP; CORN SYRUP; WATER; COCOA; SUGAR; CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVATIVE); SALT; MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES; XANTHAN GUM; POLYSORBATE 60; VANILLIN, ARTIFICIAL FLA VOR

Yuck, right? I mean, we all know that high fructose corn syrup is bad, and here it's the first ingredient listed. That means there is more of that by weight in there than anything else. It also has preservatives, artificial flavors, fake vanilla, and some other chemicals that I don't know what the heck they are.

I don't want to eat that, and I definitely don't want to feed it to my kid. The problem? My husband luuurrrrrvvvees the stuff. He can't stay away. Sometimes we'd compromise by substituting the Midnight Moo syrup they sell at Trader Joe's. Here's the ingredient list on that:

Organic Sugar, Water, Organic Cocoa, Organic Non-Fat Dry Milk, Organic Vanilla, Xanthan Gum, Soy Lecithin, Citric Acid.

Better, but there are still a few funky things in there. Soy lecithin? Yeah. Also, let's not talk about the fact that this stuff is almost $4 a bottle, comes in plastic, and that the nearest Trader Joe's isn't really all that convenient to where we live. There had to be a better way.

Thankfully the good Lord saw fit to give his children the gift of the Internet, where you can find recipes for homemade anything, just about! I did a quick Google search, found a recipe, and made a few modifications. I present to you: homemade chocolate syrup.

I bought this glass oil bottle for $3 at the Walmarts to hold it. Much better than a plastic squeeze bottle! Now, my husband can pull it out of the fridge, remove the stopper, and microwave it for a few seconds to get it to flow out of the bottle more easily. You can't (well, you probably shouldn't anyway) do that with a plastic bottle!

Five ingredients, y'all. That's it. Okay, well six if you count water.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup filtered water

2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups powdered cocoa (hopefully by now you've switched to the good stuff)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (I used RealSalt)

2 tablespoons light corn syrup (this is NOT the same as HFCS)

Directions:

Combine water and sugar in a large pot over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Once it boils, whisk in the cocoa, salt, corn syrup, and vanilla. (When you add the vanilla it gets super rumbly and you'll feel like a mad scientist!) Continue to boil, whisking constantly for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and continue to whisk until the bubbling completely dies down.

Allow to cool for a few minutes, then decant into containers using a funnel.

Don't be a big dummy like me. Make sure you have enough jars ready and watch what you're doing so you don't overflow because you overfilled the funnel. Whoops! I put what didn't fit into my decanting bottle into canning jars and I'll just store those in the fridge. This stuff is so good - super rich and not overly sweet. I'm definitely making this kind from now on!