Ten-Times-Better-Than-Store-Bought Chocolate Syrup

I'm not usually one to post photos of my stovetop (since I touch it so rarely), but that bubbling pot contains the best thing I've tasted in the last week: homemade chocolate syrup.

I found the recipe on Small Notebook -- you have to click through and see the adorable bottle Rachel put her syrup in! Rachel got the recipe from Amy Dacyczyn’s The Complete Tightwad Gazette (a book that I'm putting on my library hold list right now):

• ½ c. cocoa powder
• 1 c. water
• 2 c. sugar
• ⅛ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp vanilla

Mix the cocoa powder and the water in a saucepan. Heat on stovetop, stirring to dissolve the cocoa. Add the sugar, and stir to dissolve. Boil for 3 minutes over medium heat. (Don't let it get too hot and boil over!) Add the salt and the vanilla. Let cool. Pour into a clean glass jar, and store in the refrigerator. Yields two cups.

10 times better than store-bought (and no corn syrup), this recipe only called for 5 simple ingredients (counting the water), all of which I had on hand. Try it once, and you'll never buy that brown plastic bottle again. Try it over vanilla ice cream with smushed raspberries and you will have the most perfect summer dessert EVER!