simply sweet (and crunchy!) – 5 great uses for homemade simple syrup

Dec 29, 2011 by +

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My husband and I both bought lemons the other day not realizing the other had as well. This resulted in our having a lot more lemons than we were going to use before they went bad!

So I decided I’d look for a recipe for homemade lemonade (I know, I know – lemons, water, sugar but I just wanted to make sure to get the proprtions right) and I found a basic one using a simple syrup base to keep the sugar dispersed.

As I was making the simple syrup (which, if you havent made it before is nothing more than equal parts sugar and water boiled at medium heat for about three minutes – recipe here) it occurred to me that there might be a couple other neat uses for it…and that it could be made with better quality sugars. So I made two batches today: one with regular granulated sugar and one with turbinado (raw sugar). Both came out pretty great.

Here’s my favorite variations/uses:

cake ‘baste’ – brush your simple syrup over cake layers to keep your cake moist. Seriously. Try it. Its like magic.

homemade chocolate syrup – most grocery store chocolate syrups are both expensive and based in high fructose corn syrup but raw sugar, water, unsweetened cocoa powder and a splash of vanilla are a very tasty alternative. Since we were almost out this was one I had to try and the recipe I used today for it is here

coffee flavorings – like the shot of vanilla, almond or peppermint you get in your expensive fancy morning brew? Add about 1/2 tsp of your favorite extract to a cup of simple syrup for the same effect.

maple syrup – can’t afford real maple syrup but want to the avoid HFCS in most artificial ones? Try a raw sugar simple syrup with vanilla and/or and maple extracts for your pancakes and waffles.

cocktails and beverages – of course there are a ton of cocktails and beverages that work well with simple syrup. Like this lemonade I made today and my favorite summer drink: the mojito.

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