Homemade Chocolate Syrup

I admit it.  I have a chocolate addiction.  I crave chocolate in the evening as much as I crave coffee in the morning. Thankfully chocolate, in moderation, is not necessarily bad for you.  What is bad for you is the heavily processed chocolate that makes up most of the chocolate sold in the United States.  Chocolate syrup, in particular, is often filled with ingredients like high fructose corn syrup and and scary ingredients.  So imagine my delight when I stumbled upon a Homemade Chocolate Syrup recipe by Kitchen Treaty that proved to be a breeze to make....and was a million times better than the commercially-made kind.  In addition to it being a "cleaner" version, it also has substantially less sugar than the store bought kind. I altered the original recipe by reducing the sugar even further, and upped the salt a little.  The result? Seriously the best chocolate syrup I have ever had.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Recipe Adapted from Kitchen Treaty

INGREDIENTS

1 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

3/4 Cup (or more) Granulated Sugar

1/2 to 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt (to taste)

1 Cup Cold Water

1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

Optional: 1 tsp Instant Coffee

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk cocoa powder, sugar, and salt (and coffee if using) until mixed.  Pour in cold water, and stir.  Turn heat on medium.

3. Whisk over medium heat, until it reaches boiling.  Reduce heat to a simmer, whisking constantly, cooking until mixture starts to thicken, about 3 to 4 minutes.

4. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. The syrup will continue to thicken as it cools.  Stir in the vanilla.

5.  Store in an airtight glass container (like a mason jar), and refrigerate.  Should keep for about a month.  Yields:  11 Ounces (11 Servings)

NOTES
* If you like your syrup pretty sweet, up it to one full cup of sugar.  If you like your syrup less sweet, decrease it to 2/3 cup sugar.
* It should last about a month in the fridge.
* It becomes thick when it cools.  If you need to thin it out before serving, microwave for 10 seconds a time, stirring, until it thins enough for you.

NUTRITIONAL INFO & COMPARISON

                        Hershey's    vs    Homemade 
Serving Size:      2 tbsp                  2 tbsp
Calories:               100                      81
Carbs:                    24                      15
Sugar:                    20                      13
Fat:                         0                        0