Pieces To Treasure: Chocolate!!! It makes me Happy, Happy, Happy!

Raise your hand if you like chocolate!!!

I love it...but I'm a female, of course I do. Do you know what else I love...COFFEE! I love Starbuck's Caffé Mocha...but do you know how much sugar is in it??? Actually, I don't either, but I'm sure it's a TON more than I'm supposed to have. Sooo...I needed to come up with something to replace my sugary addiction.

I had to think..."How does Starbucks do it?" Pumps of chocolate syrup plus espresso with some steamed milk...that sounds about right. The first thing I had to find was a sugar free chocolate syrup so off I went on an internet search (what did we do before the world wide web???) I found this recipe from kitchen TREATY for Homemade Chocolate Syrup. Her recipe is not sugar free, but I have sugar substitute right...why not. And the rest of the ingredients are kitchen staples.

So after a stop at Hobby Lobby for this 11" square bottle...at half off (gotta love Hobby Lobby)...I came home to try my hand at chocolate syrup.

I started with two different sugar substitutes: xylitol and Just Like Sugar table top version. I decided to mix it half and half then add the other ingredients just like the recipe calls for.

I didn't bring it to a boil because I've learned from past experience that xylitol doesn't boil...it burns! Let's not make that mistake again!!! I gave it a taste and it wasn't sweet enough...too bitter. So I added about 1/4 cup more of xylitol. It's still a bit bitter, kind of like really dark chocolate, but not so much as to turn me off of it completely. It still has that chocolaty flavor that we all love!!!

The syrup started to thicken up fairly quickly so I didn't have to cook it near as long as the recipe states, so I had my trusty helper (my daughter) grab the camera and help me document my new adventure...thank you Sweet Pea!!!

I poured all that lovely chocolate goodness into my new bottle. It filled it about 2/3rds of the way. Then I had to try it out!!! So on went the Keurig since we had to see if I could get close to that Caffé Mocha I love so much. I chose a Kahlua coffee and got out my heavy cream (I have no way to steam it so I have to forgo that step) in anticipation of mocha yumminess!!! It wasn't quite as sweet as my Caffé Mocha, but I can handle that...plus it costs a heck of a lot less!!! It was pretty good...not perfect, but good enough for me!