01 March, 2011

Chocolate sauce


Chocolate milk, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl.

There are a lot of basics that people make for themselves instead of buying them - crackers, marshmallows, deodorant, spreadable butter to name just a few that I've either done sporadically or plan to. But the one thing I do make and will always make and will never, ever buy the commercial alternative to again is chocolate syrup. I used to think that the Hershey's syrup was great, and then I went for several years without having any, until Hazel began to like chocolate milk and since it's the only milk she'll drink (me too, can't imagine anything more disgusting than a glass of plain milk. Ugh!) I dutifully bought the Hersheys. Now I don't know if my tastes had changed in the intervening years, or their recipe had, but it was awful. Teeth-achingly sweet, not very chocolatey, and fairly expensive. I remembered that when I was a kid Mum used to make chocolate syrup for icecream and milk and I thought I'd give it a go again. People, you NEED to make this yourself too, it's the best! And really easy to make. There were masses of recipes online so I grabbed a few and started experimenting. Here is my recipe:

Chocolate Syrup

1 slightly heaped cup of cocoa*, sifted
1.5 cups sugar
Pinch of salt
1.25 to 1.5 cups water (depends on how runny you want it)
1-2 tsp vanilla

  1. Combine all the ingredients except the vanilla in a saucepan and whisk together. The mixture will start out foamy but will end up lovely and thick and glossy by the end. 
  2. Bring to the boil over a moderate heat and cook, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes. Take care not to let it boil over or burn on the bottom of the pan. 
  3. Let cool and stir in vanilla to taste. 
  4. Keep refrigerated.

*Use the best cocoa you can, it really makes the difference! My dream is to make this up using the Valhrona cocoa, but that's not really in the budget at the moment so I buy the Trade Aid cocoa which has a lovely flavour (but is slightly grainy). Plain old Cadbury's is perfectly fine too.

This recipe is infinitely customisable, want it a bit sweeter? Add more sugar. Less intense? Put in less cocoa. Runnier? Use a bit more water. Chocolate peppermint? Put in peppermint essence instead of vanilla. Boozier? Slosh in some rum or Baileys.  I guess it goes without saying that the last option is for the grownups :)

Our sauce never lasts long enough to worry about sterilising the jar beforehand, but if you were making it as a gift or planning on storing it for awhile, it would be a good idea.

7 comments:

  1. You are my hero for posting this recipe.

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  2. My good deed for the day :) I actually just altered the post to say a slightly heaped cup of cocoa as I'd forgotten last time I made it I put in a bit more cocoa to finish up a packet and it made it even more rich and lovely.

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  3. Thank you thank you thank you! My kids will love this. I am going to make some today, ready for home time.

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  4. Oh yum!!! We seem to go through an awful lot of chocolate milk...this would be perfect! Thanks!!!

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  5. How did it go? Some chocolate doesn't seem to mix well with milk, but I bet it would be fun to experiment to find out the best ones!

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  6. The bonus of this stuff is that it's so strong you don't need to use much, so not only does it taste great but it's arguably quite economical!

    --- Sent from my iPhone ---

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  7. My homeschooler was only asking the other day if we could make our own chocolate syrup...this recipe will be well utilised, thanks :)

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