When I was growing up, my mom always made our pancake syrup. Back then, I don’t think it even occurred to us that you could buy it!
When I started making pancakes and waffles for my own kids, I tried making pancake syrup like my mom used to, but it was met with a less-than-favorable reaction. (In their defense, I don’t think I actually had the recipe right.) After that experience, I started buying generic pancake syrup from the store, and had nearly forgotten all about the homemade pancake syrup of my childhood.
It wasn’t until I ran across a post from NatSprat that it all came flooding back to me! The recipe, the secret ingredient, the nostalgic taste, and most importantly, how inexpensive it is to make – the cost comes out to about $.50 per bottle. (Compare that to real maple syrup, which is often ridiculously expensive!)
If you’ve never tried homemade pancake syrup, give it a try and see what you think! And if you have had homemade pancake syrup before (especially if it was a staple when you were a kid), make it a point to make some for your own family. Sharing a part of your own childhood with your kids can be a special and memorable moment. And if that moment happens to involve pancakes… well, even better I say. :-)
Homemade Pancake Syrup
Ingredients:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp Mapleine (or other imitation maple flavoring)
Directions:
Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan on the stove.
Add both types of sugar and the Mapleine, and stir until all the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat.
Let it cool until it reaches your desired consistency. Pour the syrup into a syrup carafe or dispenser, and store any extra syrup in an airtight container.
Homemade Pancake Syrup
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp Mapleine or other imitation maple flavoring
Instructions
- Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan on the stove.
- Add both types of sugar and the Mapleine, and stir until all the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat.
- Let it cool until it reaches your desired consistency. Pour the syrup into a syrup carafe or dispenser, and store any extra syrup in an airtight container.
I prefer maple syrup, but my sister’s four kids have had that syrup regularly all their lives. The oldest is now 42. She will susdtitute vanilla if she has no maple flavouring. I hate the smell of vanilla. Odd I know. Brings back a lot of family breakafsts, leisurely and cheerful.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.As kids, me & my 2 siblings really inhaled this syrup so to “slow” us down & make it so that the syrup stuck to the waffles/french toast/pancakes rather puddling like a sweet soup, our made it using 1 cup either clear or brown Karo corn syrup (whichever was handy), only 1/2 cupwater, and 1/2 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 tsp of mapleine and 1 tbs butter. (We refrigerated our syrups.) The “pour” was not as runny as with the original recipeand tended to stick so we didn’t make syrup soup. It ended up a lot like log cabin syrup. Either way sure was good..mm…mm good!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thank you for your version. I have made homemade syrup for my family and found it very runny. Will have to try with the corn syrup
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My mom always added a dab of butter as she took it off of the heat. It was delicious….and she only used vanilla for flavouring. Delicious.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Can I assume the mapleine can be substituted for other flavors? Any recommendations around what to use or how to alter for blueberry or boysenberry which are our family favorites?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Has anyone else tried the buttermilk syrup from scratch? It’s amazing (albeit excessively NOT very healthy). You can find it on most recipe websites. Just be really careful when you add the baking soda and vanilla – it doubles in size in the pan (which I found out the hard way). But it’s quick and my picky eater son absolutely loves it (and he’s a maple syrup monster!!)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.OMG! Buttermilk syrup is the BEST! I once needed 1 TBSP of buttermilk for a recipe, so I went online to find other ways to use up the rest of it. That’s how I discovered Buttermilk syrup. Yum! Yum! YUM!!!! And yeah… heed the warning about using a big pot when making it.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.In southern Utah we call this cowboy syrup and it’s AWESOME! Although as you said not necessarily very healthy but a great treat on ice cream too. I have a B&B and have turned hundreds of people into it.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My mom made this and now I do. I’ve never used brown sugar though. We just followed the recipe on the box of Mapeline. I’ll have to try it with this recipe. My kids won’t eat the store syrup now.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My Mother used to make syrup from the wild grapes and wild plums that grew in our pasture. They were both delicious. The grape syrup would turn pancakes a little green but did not effect the taste. Any recipes out there for making those. I have a lot of canned plum juice I would love to use up.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thanks, sounds like a winner
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Sorry, but I won’t be making this, better a tiny spoon of maple or some honey than something that raises blood sugar and is generally not really that healthy. Maybe ya all can send in your healthy alternatives including using spelt flour, whole grain flour or flour alternatives which are just an awful lot more beneficial to our gut. Did you know that wheat flour turns off a raft of positive gut responses – we need to look at low-cost healthy alternatives for our families and you are all full of such great ideas – lets do it together!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.What??? Why the whole diatribe on flours? There is no flour in this recipe and honestly, if you don’t like the recipe, rather than attacking her for this, just please scram. Jillee does such a great job with all of her household tips and hints and she has literally saved me thousands of dollars. Go complain somewhere else. wow!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I did not see her post as an attack. She was only sharing something that is truthful that could honestly help someone that is willing to listen to her healthier choices. No harm done in posting one’s opinion :) I love Jillee’s posts, but do tend to agree that keeping it closer to the real deal is a healthier choice for everyone’s health. It’s ok for people to post even if it doesn’t agree with our own opinions.
Well said…
My mom also made this. She used 100% brown sugar. It was a fascination to me when I put the packed brown sugar in the shape of the measuring cup in the saucepan to see the mound dissolve right before my eyes as I poured the water on. We always stored the leftover in the fridge in a sealed container. We added vanilla, (mapeline was not in the budget back then) and since we lived on the farm we had homemade butter so we a bit of that at the end. I made that until my hubby and I graduated to 100% maple syrup.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have made this with adding vanilla to my maple flavoring too and it is just so good! Thank you so much, Jillee for the reminder! I don’t have much money to spend so this is very helpful.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Also you avoid the high fructose corn syrup that is in most store bought syrups.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Hi Jillee! I used to make this syrup a lot when my kids were all living at home. We went through a lot of pancake syrup and this kind was way cheaper than store bought. Plus there’s no high fructose corn syrup to worry about. Now that it’s just my husband and me, we allow ourselves the luxury of pure maple syrup. :)
I wanted to mention that it does seems to grow mold pretty quickly if you leave it in the cupboard. It’s best to refrigerate it. But then you’ll want to warm it up when you use it if you don’t want ice cold syrup on your pancakes.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I believe she recommended refrigeration in her recipe. have a look!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My mother added a bit of vanilla extract to the recipe. So good! With all that sugar,
Please log in or create a free account to comment.With all that sugar, Jenny, I imagine it will last ages. If in doubt, just halve the recipe.
How long would you say that this can stay in my cabinet before it goes bad? I look forward to trying this!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I make this also and it is BETTER then what you buy in the stores. I also add a bit of BUTTER to give it a buttery taste. Everyone loves this syrup. I got my dispenser at the dollar store.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Sounds great! How much butter do you add? Can you store it in a cupboard? Thanks!
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