Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Have you ever read the ingredients on a bottle of chocolate syrup. I was not too surprised to learn that one of the first ingredients is High Fructose Corn Syrup. Months ago I stopped buying anything with HFCS after learning about how bad it is for your health. Here's is an excellent article about HFCS and how even when rats consumed the same amount of total calories, the rats that ate HFCS gained significantly more weight and body fat then the other rats that ate table sugar. Those animals that ate HFCS over an extended amount of time also had abnormally high body fat, especially in their abdomen and high triglycerides. It makes me so angry when I see commercials by the Corn Industry trying to convince us that it's like any other sweetener. For these reasons, I try to avoid it at all costs.
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So, avoiding HFCS is one of the reasons I choose to make my own chocolate syrup. The other reasons are that it tastes SO much better then store bought and it's super easy to make. Here are the ingredients you'll need. Be sure to check your corn syrup brand to make sure it doesn't include HFCS. I found that the store brand included HFCS but Karo didn't. You need a bit of corn syrup to prevent the sugars from recrystallizing once the chocolate syrup cools.



Chocolate Syrup (original recipe found here)

1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup hot water
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a small sauce pan, bring the cocoa, sugar, water, salt, and corn syrup to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook for 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and add vanilla, stirring to mix well. Let cool and then transfer to an air tight container. Keep in the refrigerator.

Makes about 1 3/4 cups of syrup.

I find that transferring the cooling syrup to a measuring cup with a spout helps to get it into my squeeze bottle that I use as a storage container without spilling. You can also wash out an existing syrup bottle and use it to store your homemade chocolate syrup.

Nothing goes better with chocolate syrup then homemade ice cream. Here's my favorite recipe for French Vanilla but I've now started using 2 cups of cream and 2 cups of milk. It makes it super creamy.

Give this recipe a try and I'll promise that you'll never reach for that bottle from the store again.