Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Ever since I started staying home a few years ago, I've slowly been eliminating processed foods from our family's pantry and replacing them with homemade versions.  There are lots of positives to making things homemade.  My versions are usually cheaper, healthier, and tastier!  

The only negative I can really think of is the alarming number of dirty dishes I can generate during a cooking marathon.  I've started to take care of that problem by brain-washing my two-year-old son into thinking dishes are a super fun privilege he gets to help with.

Next up on the processed food chopping block:  chocolate syrup.  Now we'll never have to buy a bottle of too-expensive, cocoa-flavored corn syrup ever again!

What you need:

•  1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2/3 cup sugar
• sprinkle of salt
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla (oops, I left this out of my cute ingredient pic)

Let's get cooking:

Whisk all ingredients together in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. If you need to, reduce heat to low.  You want your syrup gently simmering, not boiling.  Simmer for 20-25 minutes until thickening.  Stir every few minutes so it doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan.

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Too many bubbles = burnt.  Too few = takes forever to thicken

Don't worry if it seems a little too runny, it will thicken as it cools.  Store in the fridge in a squirt bottle.  (I used an empty salad dressing bottle that I washed several times so my syrup doesn't become chocolate-ranch flavored.)  I've stored it up to a month without any problems.

-Lily