Often people think of gingerbread as a “holiday” flavor, but to me gingerbread is about winter. One can only drink so many peppermint mochas I feel before you start asking yourself if you are drinking toothpaste.
Making your own latte syrups from scratch isn’t hard, and the highlight is they contain no preservatives.
A name brand of this syrup, which you would find at most espresso shops contains this: PURE CANE SUGAR, WATER, NATURAL FLAVORS, SALT, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM BENZOATE (TO PRESERVE FRESHNESS), CARAMEL COLOR.
No molasses added to the commercial ones, and artificial coloring to make it dark. Making your own means you get all the good stuff in it. And none of the questionable.
Gingerbread Latte Syrup
Ingredients:
- ½ cup molasses
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground clove
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
Directions:
Add the molasses, maple syrup, water, ginger, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg to a saucepan.
Bring to a simmer, whisking well. Let simmer very gently for 10 to 15 minutes, whisking often. You may need to lower the heat all the way to low. Don’t walk away. It’s a sugar syrup and those tend to spike up fast and can boil over quickly.
Take off the stove, whisk in the vanilla.
Once cooled down, transfer to a clean mason jar.
Store sealed in the refrigerator. The sauce will become very thick once chilled.
Makes about ¾ cup syrup.
To Use In Lattes:
Start with 1 Tablespoon syrup in a large mug (14 to 16 ounce size) and mix in 1¼ cups steamed milk, adding in 1-2 espresso shots. I use whole dairy milk, as long as it is unsweetened with no flavoring added, most non-dairy milks work fine.
If you like it sweeter, go up to 2 Tablespoons, but this is a potent spiced syrup versus commercial versions. Start with 1 Tablespoon, and add in a little of the milk to loosen up the syrup, then slowly mix in the rest of the milk.
We use a Breville Barista Express machine.
~Sarah