Mocha

I am surely addicted to iced coffee with mocha from Starbucks. I roll through Starbucks probably 5 times per week, sometimes more. And at $3.16 a pop for a venti, it starts to add up! Starbucks has come out with the iced Via coffee packets which aren't too bad, but just not the same without the mocha syrup. Starbucks does sell their syrup, but of course, Mocha is one of just a few that they are not allowed to sell. WTH! I was thoroughly disappointed when the lady told me this. Seriously, I about cried. (ask my sister, ha!)

My sister came to stay with me for a week while my hubby was gone and so we went on a manhunt for mocha syrup.  We couldn't find it anywhere in stores, so I went to the internet to see if I could find a recipe or something.  I came across this recipe for Mocha Syrup.  I cut the recipe in half and cooked it up on my stove, leaving out the vanilla syrup and just using regular vanilla extract. I let it cool on the stove because it was quite thin and I thought it might thicken up if I let it cool down.  After cooling, it was still pretty thin. I put it in a tupperware container and put it in the frig.  The next morning it was nice and thick like a syrup should be.

This is what it looks like while still hot, right after cooking it all together. It is still thin like water.

Now, this doesn't taste exactly like Starbucks Mocha syrup, but it is darn close and it is a great substitute. It would be really good over ice cream or used as chocolate syrup for chocolate milk. A great alternative to the store bought version.  It's super easy to make and I think most pantries have all of the ingredients needed to make this.  I just add as much as I want to my homemade iced coffee and off I go. A lot cheaper than getting Starbucks everyday.

*You can half the recipe and change up the kind of cocoa powder that you use.  I've used regular cocoa only, and also used mostly dark with just a bit of regular.  You can totally customize it, which I like. Enjoy!