Have you ever read the back of chocolate milk or chocolate syrup?

I didn’t recognize a lot of the ingredients, so I decided to make my own chocolate milk, starting with homemade chocolate syrup.

It’s so easy, it makes me oh so happy.

I didn’t eat, let alone buy much processed goods until I got pregnant and just keeping food down was a challenge alone. Since I still wanted to be healthy, I was reading ingredient labels and did my best to make sure I understood what all the ingredients were before consuming. This was my way of making sure the baby was taken care of since I couldn’t eat my usual diet of greens, grains, beans, lean meats, etc.

After I saw my husband mix up his protein drink, which looked like chocolate milk, I got a sudden craving. Funny how that works. For a while I was having a hard time eating throughout the day and after I saw my husband mix up his usual protein drink I decided I’d add a little chocolate milk into my diet.

I cooked mine a little longer so make a thicker chocolate because I also used it later for cookie sandwiches I was testing. You could say this stuff is my new crack. For thinner chocolate syrup, just reduce the cooking time. Easy peasy. Another thing I did was decreased the sugar content. I just wanted enough sweetness, but nothing that made my teeth hurt. This mixes well with any type of milk you prefer. Personally, this mixed with a glass of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and was as happy as can be!

Oh the simple joys of homemade chocolate milk.

Recipe note: I reduced the amount of sugar in this recipe and found it to be a nice balance, not too sweet. If you prefer a richer, sweeter chocolate, simply add more cane sugar.  

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

[Recipe adapted from The Slow Roasted Italian]

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Ingredients

• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup raw cane sugar
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions

Before you turn on the stove, whisk together the sugars, cocoa powder salt in a small saucepan until everything is well combined and no lumps remain. Add water and carefully whisk to combine.  Turn heat to medium and bring a boil for about 3 minutes, whisking frequently.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, continuing to whisk frequently for 8-10 minutes.  Note: the longer you cook, the thicker it will get. 

Remove saucepan from heat and stir in the vanilla.  Pour chocolate mixture into a jar to cool before you cover and refrigerate.

For chocolate milk:

Mix 1 tablespoon of chocolate to 1 cup milk of choice, stir well and enjoy! Feel free to add more chocolate if you prefer a richer chocolate milk.

Personal Note: I personally wanted a thicker chocolate so I let mine cook longer.

*gluten-free

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