Sunday Morning Hotcakes and Syrup

I rarely cook a full breakfast on Sunday morning. But a stack of hotcakes sounded good yesterday. With a fresh batch of brown sugar syrup sitting in the refrigerator, my son and I made traditional Karoly hotcakes (more later in the week).

Although I've prepared brown sugar syrup hundreds of times, I've always been put off by it's acidic aftertaste. So a few years ago, I added 1/4-cup corn syrup and several pats of unsalted butter to by recipe (dissolve 2 cups brown sugar in 1 cup boiling water and flavor with maple flavoring).

The result impressed me. The syrup had a distinct brown sugar flavor without the aftertaste. It was much smoother and had a mild butter flavor.

A quick Google search led me to a recipe by Pam Anderson, author of How to Cook Without a Book and CookSmart, that had promise. It delievered a sweet syrup with smooth flavor. The syrup thickened naturally without cornstarch.


This is where the writer says, "The syrup has a reddish hue with yellow under tones when drizzled from a spoon."

BROWN SUGAR SYRUP

Some things are just too easy to make at home, including hotcakes and brown sugar syrup. I figure, why buy the bottled stuff when you can easily produce quality syrup at home. The original recipe said to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. I find that it takes at least 30 minutes to reduce the volume by one-half.

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
2 cups water
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

In a medium saucepan, bring the sugars, corn syrup and water to a boil. Reduce heat to a vigorous simmer until thickened to a syrupy consistency, about 30 minutes. Stir in butter. Let cool slightly. Store in the refrigerator for up to one month.