Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Today was a really busy day. I went out to finish shopping for my 5th grader's school needs. I'm just so glad I was able to get really good buys, really fast. I'm no big fan of last-minute shopping as that usually translates to overspending. Turns out, the week before classes begins is still not last-minute as I encountered no long queues.

Classes begin for majority of Philippine schools on Monday, June 3rd. This weekend, I will be making large batches of my breakfast and lunch meals to grab and go. 

While most busy moms will be stocking up on store-bought hotdogs, breakfast sausages, tvp burgers, tocinos ( marinated meats ), chicken nuggets, cereals and artificial juices in tetrapacks, yours truly will be making fruited yogurt drinks and fruit concentrates for the kids to go.

It may sound daunting, but a little preparation and menu planning goes a long way. Since most kids love to eat favorite meals interchangeably for breakfast and lunch, making extra portions for freezing and later reheating will go a long way.

I just got off the phone with a mother of 3 small kids. Her concern is all too real, since her kids' have very different needs and food preferences; she has to prepare three different menus for every meal, every single day. This is one of those times, I'm thankful my kids like the same things.

This is where my previous posts come in handy: ziplock bags of homemade pancake mixes, skinless longganizas, chicken nuggets, spanish sardines, tuna flakes in oil, daing na isda ( marinated fish ), boneless bangus ( milkfish ) belly, lumpia shanghai (pork spring rolls), porkchops  and chicken fillet come in handy. These, I pretty much covered already in my posts.

For the pre-cooked meals; chicken and pork adobo, bistek tagalog ( beefsteak Filipino style), beef teriyaki, Korean beef, tonkatsu ( breaded Japanese porkchop), katsudon ( Japanese pork topping) and gyudon ( Japanese beef rice topping ) are my children's list-toppers. These, I haven't yet but encourage parent's to try.

It should not come as a surprise that each one of the above choices are paired with rice. We're Asian after all.

Today will be about homemade chocolate syrup. It's so easy to put together and is so versatile.  I'm sure moms will be grateful to have it on hand in the kitchen. Kid's of all ages will love this! 

We use this as syrup for pancakes, topping for ice cream, frosting, or desserts, flavoring for oatmeal, yogurt, also as a spread. If we ever run out of MyChoco, they squirt this on to a glass of milk for instant chocolate milk drink. Neat, right?

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 c. Hershey's or any premium brand of Dutch processed (alkaline) cocoa powder
1 to 1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 c. water
1 T butter ( optional)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt

PROCEDURE:

1. In a pot, combine cocoa powder, white sugar, salt and water. Turn heat on medium high.

2. Once it boils, and while stirring with a whisk, boil for 1 minute and not any longer. Remove from heat. Cool a little, and add vanilla and butter. Syrup will thicken as it cools.

3. Cool completely and transfer to a squeezeable plastic bottle dispenser or reuse a pancake syrup bottle. How easy is that?

NOTE: Use only the best cocoa powder for excellent, smooth and creamy results. Anything less will result into a grainy product.

A big plastic bottle of Hershey's or any other brand of chocolate syrup costs about PhP150 ( US $ 4. Double this recipe is only about P70 ( US $1.50 )and lasts 2-4 weeks depending on usage. Big savings again!

Thanks once more for visiting, and please leave a comment on what you would like me to post next. I hope you found this post helpful.