Gingerbread Syrup

Coffee is a special occasion drink for me. I find that I don't really need the caffeine, I'm not a fan of the teeth un-whitening properties, and I have a hard time sipping on too-hot drinks. These qualities can be overlooked in the winter for sure though. There's nothing cozier than warming up my hands with a mug of something warm, especially if it's a deliciously flavored coffee. There's a particular coffee chain that I enjoy visiting (hint: its represented by a green and white logo with a mermaidy siren) for their flavored coffees. But, as I mentioned, since coffee isn't a necessity for me, I find it difficult to shell out $6 for a treat that isn't really even a treat.

Well, it turns out that most flavorings can be duplicated at home. And today, I'm sharing a gingerbread syrup because, as I mentioned yesterday, it is a week of gingerbread over here.

Ingredients [yields approximately ¾ cup syrup, or enough for 4 to 6 drinks]:
1 cup water
¼ cup packed brown sugar
scant ½ teaspoon cinnamon
heaped ½ teaspoon ground ginger
pinch ground cloves
½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger
small cinnamon stick
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Start by chucking all of the ingredients, except for the vanilla extract, into a saucepan. Stir it up and then pop it onto a medium high flame.

Let it heat up until it comes to a rolling rapid boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes on this low heat.

Remove from the heat and cool the syrup completely. Strain it, if you're not into bits of ginger and of course, fish out the cinnamon stick.

Meanwhile, make up a cute little label and prepare a bottle to hold the syrup. If you have a bottle with a pourer top, even better.

To the cooled syrup, stir in some vanilla extract.

Then, pour the syrup into the bottle. I had to use a little funnel.

And that's all there is to it! Store the syrup in the fridge. It will keep for about a week.

I'll be sharing two delicious drinks later tomorrow and Thursday so come back for those!

Here's the recipe page: