Homemade coffee syrups

I think I'm already all Pumpkin Spice Latte'd out but we are nearing the end of October and I'm already looking forward to christmas & dreaming up ideas to dress up my house, which by the way is nearly ready to make an appearance on the ol' blog!

We don't have a Starbucks close by, we have to go into town, (although there is one at the nearby university but we went & I felt like I really shouldn't pretend to be a student!) so I decided the best thing to do for now would be to try out some homemade coffee syrups.

These are really easy & you can make practically any flavour you like. I might try some fruity syrups at some point for adding to cocktails.

I've made Vanilla, Lavender & Caramel syrups. I've done these recipes using 'cups'. I invested in some last week because so many recipes I want to try have instructions using 'cups' so get yourselves some or maybe use a ramekin - as long as the 'cup' is the same measurement I guess it doesn't really matter.

CARAMEL:

2 cups of water, 2 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup of caramel (shop bought like below or make your own by boiling a tin of condensed milk in a pan for a few hours).

Put the water & sugar in a saucepan and heat until the sugar has completely dissolved on a low/medium setting. You'll know it has because the sugar water will become clear. Once dissolved add the caramel & mix until well combined. Dispense into your bottle.

VANILLA:
2 cups of water, 2 cups of sugar, teaspoon of vanilla essence.

Same method as above. Heat up sugar & water until dissolved then add the vanilla essence. 

LAVENDER:
Sounds like a strange flavour to make but tastes delicious in a latte!
2 cups of water, 2 cups of BROWN sugar, lavender extract.

Heat the water & sugar until dissolved. Add lavender extract and stir until combined. You can use fresh lavender buds too for this by adding a tablespoon of buds to the syrup while the sugar is dissolving. Only leave the buds in for 20-25 mins then strain using a fine sieve.

You'll want to use a funnel to put the syrups in the bottled to avoid spills. Then make some pretty labels!