Homemade Chocolate Syrup

First off, let me (again) apologize for not posting for so long.  It's been a long, hectic summer, but the end result is pretty awesome:  our son, Simon, was born September 13, weighing 9 lbs 5 oz and measuring 21-1/4 inches!

This is Simon at 6 weeks old!

And, unfortunately, that's the only picture you'll be seeing this post because I didn't even think to take photos of the recipe.  D'oh!  Still, it's a simple recipe and y'all are smart, so I'm sure you can figure it out.

Now, for the yummy goodness of chocolate syrup....

Adam is currently on a chocolate milk kick and I've been buying him Hershey syrup up until now.  I recently joined Pinterest and stumbled across a recipe for homemade chocolate syrup.  It seemed easy enough and hey!  I have all the ingredients here at home.  No need to spend money to fuel Adam's chocolate milk addiction!  Score!

You will need:

• 1-1/4 cup of sugar (The recipe called for organic sugar, do with that what you will.  I'm using the regular, non-organic sugar I have in my pantry.  So there.)
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Here's what you do:

1)  In a saucepan, whisk (yup, I finally bought a whisk!) the sugar and cocoa to remove the lumps

2)  Stir in the water and salt

3)  Bring to a oil over medium heat, stirring frequently.  I stirred pretty much the entire time as I was worried about the chocolate burning.

4)  Once boiling, cook for a few minutes, still stirring frequently.  Supposedly the sauce should thicken;  mine didn't.

5)  Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes.

6)  Stir in vanilla extract.

7) Store in an air tight container in the fridge and use within 2-4 weeks.  Don't worry, you'll use it all.  It's yummy!

It did turn out thinner than commercial syrups, but it is MUCH richer.  Use sparingly until you get used to it - it's very different from store bought syrups.  And just think, you can even try to jazz it up by using different extracts - peppermint or orange spring to mind.  DISCLAIMER: I haven't tried using different flavors, so if you do try it and it sucks, don't blame me!

Enjoy!  It's taking all my willpower to not go into the kitchen and drink the whole batch of it.

Julie's Tarte Suisse, With Peaches and Raspberries

Okay, wow.  So, I haven't posted anything in a very, very long time.  I apologize, but, well, you know, I have a toddler now!

Anyway, here we are.  I will try and get better about putting things here and on my canning blog, especially as canning season gets here later this summer.  That said, our new baby boy will be arriving in late August or early September, so things are still going to be very, very busy.

The recipe for my latest delicious treat comes from my wonderful, beautiful friend Julie.  She got this recipe from her grandmother, so just imagine the history I am sharing with you all today!

This is an incredibly quick and easy dessert, and I would think that most people have the ingredients on hand most of the time.  Well, except for maybe the fruit and, people, you should have fresh fruit around all the time.  It's healthy.  Eat it.

For this wonderful concoction, you will need the following:

• 6 tablespoons milk
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 6 tablespoons oil
• 12 tablespoons floor
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Fresh fruit of your choice.  This time, I used peaches and raspberries.

What to do:

1.  Measure your flour into a bowl, 12 tablespoons.

2.  Add 6 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon baking powder.

3.  Mix together 6 tablespoons milk and 6 tablespoons oil together.

4.  Add your milk/oil mixture to your dry ingredients along with 2 eggs.

5.  Mix well.  Look, it bubbles!  I tasted the batter; it tastes like very sweet pancake batter.

6.  Now, Julie suggested lining your pie pan with parchment paper to make it easier to get your tarte out.  However, the parchment paper and I had a slight disagreement, so I opted to just butter the hell out of the pie pan.  Butter makes everything better.

7.  Pour your batter into your pan.  Bubbles!

8.  Prepare your fresh fruit.  I used about 2-1/2 fresh peaches, sliced and peeled.  Yeah, I kind of mangled the over ripe one a bit.  It still tasted good.  

9.  And raspberries.  I used maybe 12-15 berries total.

10.  Place your fruit into your batter.  Try and shuffle the fruit so the batter covers it.  Obviously, my raspberries had other ideas.  I did a ring of peaches, then a ring of raspberries, a ring of peaches, and some raspberries in the middle.  But, hey, whatever you want to do.  Have fun!

11.  Bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.  It should look something like this:

12.  While it's still warm, feel free to sprinkle some powdered sugar on top to finish it off.  I didn't take a picture of that part, though, so you'll have to use your imaginations.

And that's it!  Quick, simple, and delicious!  Imagine all the different fruit combinations you could try.  Like, adding some cinnamon to the batter and using apples.  Or fresh pineapple or pears or blackberries.  I'm even trying to figure out a way you could add a cream cheese filling of some type to it.  Lots and lots of possibilities here.  Have fun and ENJOY!

Wow, it's been a long time.....

Holy flying time, Batman!  I knew it had been a while since I posted here, but I didn't realize that it has been 6 months.  My apologies, wonderful followers.

Obviously, things have been busy.  Fall 2011 was a difficult and hectic time around here.  I am hoping that 2012 is going to be better.

I will try and post more often.  I am in the process of revamping my diet a little bit, so that should give me some new things to try out.  In fact, there's a bacon-wrapped chicken shish kabob that I might try this week.  I'll try to remember to take pictures of it and post it for you all.

In the meantime, I have recently started doing some home canning projects.  I think those are best kept separate from my regular recipes, so I have started a new blog:  http://adventures-in-canning.blogspot.com/ I'm really having fun with canning!  I will try and get some of my canning stuff up soon.