Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Out of necessity I had to find out how to make some homemade chocolate syrup since I was out of Hershey's Syrup.  After discovering how easy this recipe is and how good it tastes, I have to say so long to Hershey's Syrup.  This homemade stuff from An Oregon Cottage is fantastic! I made some chocolate milk with it and both the little guy and I agree.... mmm-mmm-mmm!  I don't think our house is going to miss the Hershey's stuff one bit.

A lot of the recipes I found only used a lousy 3 tablespoons of cocoa, but this recipe loads it up with a whopping 3/4 cup of chocolatey goodness!  Now, this is what I call chocolate syrup!  I've already tested it with milk, so next I'll have to see how it works out in a cup of hot milk to make hot cocoa, and then also drizzling it on ice cream.  Oh and licking it right off the spoon is perfectly acceptable too :)

I probably over cooked the syrup this first try since I noticed that the syrup left over in the pot was quite thick upon cooling. No biggie, I just added a little bit of water to the syrup and it turned out just fine.  When I make it next time, I'll use a candy thermometer and time it so I can update this post with exact measurements.  The inner scientist in me needs these specifics!

Update: I should have mentioned that I used natural cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed cocoa powder).  You could use either depending on the chocolate taste you're looking for.  I just used the cocoa powder I had on hand.  Natural cocoa imparts an intense chocolate flavor and is more bitter. The alkalizing process increases the pH, which makes for a less bitter and more mild chocolate flavor.   Always check your recipe for the correct cocoa powder to use since natural and Dutch-processed have different functionality. :)

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