Gingerbread Simple Syrup

Sweet, spicy and full of holiday festivity flavor. Whip up a batch of this gingerbread simple syrup and add it to all the things this holiday season. Drizzle it on baked goods, add a splash to all your beverages and enjoy the sweet, tangy and spicy flavors.

What is Gingerbread Simple Syrup?

Gingerbread simple syrup is a combination of equal parts brown sugar and water mixed together with ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and nutmeg. The resulting syrup is a sweet, warm and spicy and it tastes like gingerbread.

This little touch of the holidays all wrapped into a syrup is perfect for adding to special holiday beverages and foods. It’s a super versatile sleep now that can be used in a wide arrange of drinks from milks to coffees and foods from desserts to breakfast.

Plain simple syrup itself is just a liquid sweetener made from equal parts of sugar and water. Flavored simple syrups like this are quite popular as they are easy to make. A few other flavors you might enjoy include brown sugar syrup, pumpkin spice syrup and ginger syrup.

And, if you’re not sold on this recipe yet, here are just a few reasons why you are sure to love it:

• Festive holiday flavor. It’s like you’ve packed the holidays into this syrup with its warm, spicy and festive flavors. It will instantly give you a taste of holiday cheer.
• It’s really easy. Even though it does have a handful of ingredients, most of them are just spices you’re likely to already have in your kitchen combined with sugar and water. It’s super easy to make and should be able to be finished in about 15 minutes.
• Easy to customize. Not only is the syrup easy to customize by adding in or subtracting different ingredients, but still maintaining a similar flavor. But, it’s also very versatile and can be added to a wide range of beverages and drinks.

Equipment

• Saucepan
• Wooden Spoon (or any long handle spoon)
• Measuring Spoons
• Mason jar or Small Pyrex
• Measuring Cup

Ingredients

• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 cup Water
• 1 teaspoon Ginger
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon Allspice
• ¼ teaspoon Cloves
• ⅛ teaspoon Nutmeg

Instructions

Step one

Gather up everything including saucepan, wooden spoon, fine mesh strainer, jar with a lid, brown sugar, water, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger and nutmeg.

Step two

Take the 1 cup of brown sugar and dump it into the saucepan.

Step three

Measure out 1 teaspoon of ginger, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon of allspice, ¼ teaspoon of cloves, ⅛ of a teaspoon of nutmeg. Then, add those in the saucepan.

Step four

Take the one cup of water and dump it into the saucepan.

Step Five

Heat your mixture at medium heat on the stove top for 10 minutes. It should get to a simmer, but not a rolling boil. You should also stir well as it heats.

Step Six

Once it’s heated you’ll need to remove it from the stove top. Then, pour it through a fine mesh strainer to remove any of the undissolved spices.

Once it’s been strained and poured into the jar put the lid on the container. Then come up place it in the refrigerator to cool and thicken for about 2 hours.

How to Use Gingerbread Syrup

There are so many different ways that you can use this syrup. You’re just a few suggestions you might consider:

• Make a copycat Starbucks gingerbread latte. Wake up a latte and add a little splash of the syrup into it to make a copycat, fancy Starbucks gingerbread flavored drink.
• Drizzle over pancakes and French toast. Add a little holiday cheer to your next breakfast by drizzling this over your pancakes or French toast.
• Add a splash to hot drinks. Add a few ounces of this to your next hot chocolate, hot coffee or hot tea.
• Top your ice cream or oatmeal. Drizzle a generous amount of this across your next ice cream or oatmeal for a warm spice to get added in.
• Add it to tea, cocktails and mocktails. Use this to flavor iced tea or holiday flavored cocktails and mocktails. Adding this into cocktails to make ones like a gingerbread martini is the perfect flavor.
• Moisten cakes. Add a little holiday sweetness to your next cake by brushing this between the layers to add a gingerbread flavor and keep your cake moist.

Variations

There are a lot of different ways you can modify the ingredients in the syrup, but still keep that gingerbread flavor. Here are a few ideas:

• Use a gingerbread spice. Instead of putting together the individual spices for the gingerbread flavor, you can purchase a pre-made gingerbread spice. You’ll want to use one tablespoon of it.
• Add in some additional spice. Different gingerbread spice mixes have slightly different flavor profiles. You can add in a small pinch of black pepper, anise, coriander and/or cardamom.
• Add molasses. One of the Hallmark flavors and gingerbread is molasses. You can add about a quarter cup to the recipe to add a little molasses flavor.

Top Tips & Storage

Here are some important process and storage tips you should make sure to follow:

• Strain it. Although most of the spices will dissolve while heating, it does leave a little bit of prettiness in the syrup. Make sure to use a fine mesh strainer to get as much of the grittiness of the syrup out as possible.
• Use a container with a lid. When storing this, it’s important to use an airtight container such as a mason jar or a Pyrex with a lid. Additionally, it should be kept in the refrigerator. It will stay fresh for about 2 to 4 weeks.
• Stir and simmer. When you heat this syrup you want to make sure you stir it, but don’t let it boil. Additionally, you want to make sure you’re stirring frequently throughout the heating process so that it heats evenly and does not scorch on the pot.
• Freezing. If you need to keep it longer than 2 to 4 weeks then you’ll need to freeze it. The best way to do this is in an ice cube tray. Simply pour it in the tray and let it freeze. Then, pop the frozen cubes out and keep them in a freezer bag.

Other Flavored Simple Syrups

• Sugar Cookie Syrup
• Pumpkin Spice Syrup
• Vanilla Simple Syrup

Recipe