Chocolate Syrup

My kids will go through three gallons of milk in a week or less if you would let them drink chocolate milk all day.  Most chocolate syrups you will buy at the store contain a lot of ingredients that most people probably can't even pronounce.  I wanted to make a chocolate syrup that I didn't feel bad about my kids drinking.  I found a lot of recipes that the number one ingredient was sugar, or corn syrup.  I wanted to use a natural sweetener, so I thought I would try using honey and maple syrup.  The results were great, my kids love it, and it is only four ingredients.  It doesn't get much easier than that!

Ingredients:

Pure Maple Syrup - 1 Cup

Honey - 1/2 Cup

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - 3/4 Cup

Water - 1 Cup 

Combine and whisk all ingredients in a saucepan.  Heat on high to a boil and boil for one minute.  Allow to cool and refrigerate.  Really, its that easy!  If you don't care if your sweetener is natural or not, you could certainly use regular old white sugar.  You could also use all maple syrup, all honey, or even all agave nectar. 

Tortillas

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour - 1 Cup

All Purpose Flour    - 1 Cup

Coconut Oil (Melted) - 1/4 Cup

Salt (I use sea salt) - 1/2 teaspoon

Warm Water - 3/4 Cup or less

I normally just use a recipe as guidelines.  If you prefer a more whole wheat tortilla, use more or all whole wheat flour.  If you prefer white tortillas, then use all all-purpose flour.  If you don't think you like coconut oil (I just started using coconut oil and I LOVE it, it doesn't have a coconut taste if you use the expeller pressed like this one), you could substitute olive oil, vegetable oil, or butter.  I did make this recipe with olive oil and I thought it could have used a little less than 1/4 cup.

To make your tortillas:

In a large bowl, mix together the flour and the salt.  Next mix in the coconut oil, making sure that it is fully incorporated.

Add in the warm water a little at a time and stir.  Your dough should be very moist but not overly sticky.  Add in just enough water to form a very soft ball.

Next, on a very lightly floured surface, roll your dough in to a log.  Using a knife or a pastry scraper, portion the dough in to about 10 golf ball size portions.

Cover the portioned balls and allow them to rest for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.  This will give the gluten in the bread time to relax and give a better consistency and taste to your tortillas.

After your dough has rested, and working with one ball of dough at a time, flatten the dough with the palm of your hand.  This will form a little disc.  Then with a floured rolling pin, roll each ball thin (between 1/16" and 1/8").  These will not rise at all, so the thickness you roll them will be the thickness of your final product.  Continue with the rest of the dough, stacking them on a plate as you go along (they will not stick together). 

After you are done rolling the dough, heat a large frying pan or griddle pan on low heat.  Lightly fry each tortilla (don't oil the pan, I cook with stainless steal and there is enough oil in the dough for it to not stick) for about 30 seconds to a minute on each side.

These will last for a couple of weeks in the fridge, or freeze very nicely.