Jacki's Vanilla Drink Syrup and Coffee Creamer

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 I am not a vanilla person. Sure,  I add plenty of vanilla to my baked goods and the only real way to make an afogato is with vanilla ice cream, but 90% of the time, I feel that there is a need for something more than just vanilla. Because of this, vanilla drink syrup was far from the first kind I learned how to make. I actually started making drink syrups long before I posted the first one on my blog. Ever since I started making my own coffee drinks and realized how expensive the high quality syrups were, I brought it upon myself to learn how to make my own. 

    At first, I will admit, my syrups weren't very good. But now, I have almost wrecked going out to get coffee for myself because I have started to like the drinks I make better! So sure, I never made vanilla coffee syrup until recently, but I definitely knew how and it is probably the easiest one I have ever made to date. 

    The reason I call this "Jacki's vanilla syrup" is because Jacki is the only person I make it for. She is one of the first friends I made when I moved to my new town right before I got married and she is the only one (other than people I know through my husband and his friends) that I am still really close with. I found out  quickly that the only coffee she really likes is packed with vanilla syrup or vanilla creamer. So, now, every time she visits I make sure I have some on hand. It soon became a bit of a joke to my husband because I would sometimes make the vanilla syrup or creamer days in advance and label it "Jacki's Vanilla Syrup" so that my husband wouldn't use it all before she visited. Of course he asked where his special syrup is and I told him that he gets pretty much everything else... although there are a few that he starts to ask for so often that I might have to name it after him. 

    Making Jacki's syrup is super easy. All I do is add equal parts water and sugar into a small saucepan and let it simmer until it starts to thicken. This takes about five minutes. Once it is close to being done, I add in my vanilla extract and let it simmer for about one more minute before I take it off of the heat to let it cool before I bottle it up. 

    This syrup lasts about a week sealed at room temperature and a month sealed in the refrigerator but I'm sure it could last even longer (if it can even make it that long without running out). To turn this syrup into creamer, all I do is replace the water in this recipe with half and half (plus a little extra) and don't let it simmer for as long. Instead of simmering for five minutes, I just heat it up until all of the sugar is dissolved and continue to let it steam while I mix in the vanilla. I don't quite let it simmer because I really don't want to burn the half and half but it definitely should get hot. The creamer should be refrigerated but it can also last anywhere from 2 weeks to a month depending on how old your half and half was in the first place. 

    To make a latte with the syrup all you have to do is mix about 1-2 tablespoons of the syrup with 2oz of espresso (I like to use Seven Weeks Coffee) and 1/2-1 cup of hot or cold milk. The result is an amazingly sweet and creamy vanilla latte that can compete with any coffee shop!

    What did you think of this recipe? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Use the comment section below!