REAL Chocolate Syrup

You know you want to make this...

HB here.
I love chocolate. I love milk. I love chocolate milk. I grew up making chocolate milk with Hershey's syrup and later in life moved onto bigger and better things: Nesquik Chocolate Milk Mix. So tasty, chocolately and just loaded with sugar. Somewhere in the midst of all this chocolate milk drinking, I got married and had a baby. Then, I had two babies at once. By the time I needed to feed all three of these tiny, cute people something other than breastmilk or baby food, I began questioning everything we ate, including my precious chocolate milk mix and the Hershey's Syrup drowning my ice cream. :( Sad, sad, sad. I found a chocolate syrup at Whole Foods that did not contain High Fructose Corn Syrup but it was around $5 for one bottle. Ouch. So, I searched the internets and found the below recipe. I've been making it for nearly 2 years, y'all. It's that good. I have never once made it with white sugar. I always use unrefined sugars, such as sucanat or muscavado and the syrup is divine.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup muscavado or sucanat
1/4 teaspoons sea salt
1 cup water
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Whisk cocoa, sugar and salt in a pot till combined. Add water and whisk till well blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove syrup from heat, let it cool for a bit and then add the vanilla. I've added the vanilla when it's still quite hot and it's been fine, although I'm sure some foodie somewhere would tell me never to do that. Store in refrigerator. Makes about 1 3/4 cups of syrup and will keep in the refrigerator for a loooooooong time. I use a scant tablespoon per one glass of chocolate milk.  This recipe doubles very well and makes great chocolate shakes or hot chocolate. I've not tried making this with honey or maple syrup. Anytime I've tried to sweeten something containing cocoa with honey instead of sugar, it just doesn't float my boat. So, enjoy it and don't hate yourself for wanting something sweet. :)