Aztec Chocolate Syrup

First, today is Nick's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK!  And birthdays call for dessert, right?

I wrote about how easy it is to make your own chocolate syrup at home recently.  Once we had used up that first batch of syrup, I wanted to experiment a little, and try a new flavor twist. Spicy chocolate syrup, inspired by Mexican or Aztec style hot chocolate was at the top of my list. I like the grown-up twist of spicy flavors in ice cream - it is unexpected and delicious.  For this version, I reduced the amount of sugar, because it seemed the spicy flavor would be better if less sweet (and a bit more intensely chocolate-y).

The issue that arose after I made and cooled the syrup was this: it came out very thick - more like fudge sauce than chocolate syrup, and pretty difficult to work with. It didn't drizzle thinly like the regular syrup - it was too...goopy (yuck.). This problem was pretty easily solved by simply using a bit more water to thin out the sauce. If your sauce cools and is thicker than you would like, you can stir in an extra tablespoon or two of hot water to adjust the consistency.

Both this recipe and the original chocolate syrup recipes are vegan. Most store-bought chocolate syrups seem to include some milk products. However, the vegan-ness depends on the type of sugar used. A natural, unbleached sugar is vegan, but some vegans don't consume bleached white table sugar. If you're vegan, you probably have a favorite sugar product - if you're cooking for someone else who is vegan, ask them what sugars are okay with them. (Also: it is definitely not vegan if you eat it atop regular ice cream, like I do!)

This sauce, like the original, blends nicely into a hot chocolate drink; all the spices add a really fun, gourmet twist. It is also great on top of ice cream - the spiciness is largely masked by the sugars from the ice cream, but the flavor of the chilies shines through. If you want it to make your ice cream really spicy, use more cayenne.

Aztec Chocolate Syrup
This sauce is mild to medium spicy; increase the cayenne if you want spicier sauce, or omit it for mild sauce.
Yield: about 2 cups syrup

INGREDIENTS
1 cup sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup plus 3 tbsp water
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ancho chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS
1. In a medium sauce pan, combine sugar and cocoa powder. Stir together, breaking up any clumps of cocoa. Add the water and salt, and stir.
2. Place pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and boil for a minute until the mixture thickens slightly. At this point, it will coat the back of your spoon and look like you expect chocolate syrup to look.
3. Remove the pan from the heat. Let it cool about 5 minutes, then stir in the vanilla extract and spices. (If you add the vanilla before it cools, it will evaporate and not flavor your syrup!). Adjust the heat level to your preference.
4. Pour into an airtight container, let cool, then store in the fridge.

I'm loving our warm weather this week - although I had to photograph this ice cream fast so it didn't melt (too much) on me! I've been getting out for runs with Cooper and Nick, and I'm loving how late it stays light.

I've been doing a lot of planning work for our outdoor container garden, and I'll be telling you all about that soon! With this warm weather, it looks like we might start things off quite a bit earlier than I thought. 

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Homemade Chocolate Syrup

There are a lot of things that I didn't know I could make at home until I tried. Bread, hummus, and macarons, for example. Each time I try making something I thought I had to buy at the store, I'm surprised how simple it is. How rewarding. And, of course, how much better it tastes!

Now, I don't claim that I invented this recipe or method. If you search for chocolate syrup recipes, you will find many variations. Some of them use as little as 1/2 cup cocoa powder to 2 cups sugar, which I imagine more closely approximates the Hershey's syrup that we're used to. This version, however, is more chocolatey than the store-bought stuff, and consequently tastes much better. Don't get me wrong, it's still really sweet (I can't even imagine how sweet some of these other recipes are!), but the chocolate flavor shines through. I also don't skimp on the vanilla, because vanilla is actually a crucial flavor component in what many of us (myself included) identify as "chocolate". 

A word on ingredients: the two main flavors here are your cocoa powder and vanilla extract, so it's important that they are good quality. Use real vanilla, please! I use Trade Joe's cocoa powder, but you can use whatever kind you like best. 

If you want to get really foodie with this stuff, you could make a cinnamon version, or a version with chili powder (ancho if you want it mild, some cayenne if you want it spicy! Think Aztec chocolate here), or a mocha version (using instant coffee, or maybe brewed coffee in place of the water).  I have not tried any of those yet, but I think a chili version is up next for us.

You can use this chocolate syrup the same way you would use the storebought stuff.  A few ideas:

Ice cream sundaes:

A topping for single ingredient "ice cream":

To make chocolate milk (I use 2-3 tbsp per 12 oz glass)

To make hot chocolate (make this the same way as chocolate milk, but then microwave it for a minute or two, and top with some whipped cream and a drizzle of syrup):

And the best part is that it is so very, very simple to make.

Chocolate Syrup
Yield: about 2 cups syrup

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
1. In a medium sauce pan, combine sugar and cocoa powder. Stir together, breaking up any clumps of cocoa. Add the water and salt, and stir.
2. Place pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and boil for a minute until the mixture thickens slightly. At this point, it will coat the back of your spoon and look like you expect chocolate syrup to look.
3. Remove the pan from the heat. Let it cool about 5 minutes, then stir in the vanilla extract. (If you add the vanilla before it cools, it will evaporate and not flavor your syrup!)
4. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. I use a mason jar, but if you have some kind of squeeze bottle that would probably be ideal.

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