Just call me Martha!

I had been buying peppermint syrup (you know the kind they have at Starbucks) over the holidays. I love it in my coffee and even add a spoonful of nestlea cocoa, a bit of whip cream and sprinkles for my own poor man's peppermint mocha.
Well, somewhere along the line the kids caught on to the peppermint syrup thing and started putting it in their hot cocoa. Soon we were blowing through those $6 bottles of peppermint syrup like water.
Well, as they say necessity is the mother of all invention. Soon I was on the internet googling simple syrup recipes. Once I found out how to make that I figured I could just add peppermint extract and voila peppermint syrup. So one night after the kids were in bed I washed out the empty peppermint syrup bottle and stood over the stove making peppermint syrup. You might wonder why I washed the old bottle for re-use. That would be because my kids are food snobs and don't trust imitations. Any substitutions or generics are quickly dubbed "gross". So once I cooked and cooled the syrup I poured it into the Torani syrup bottle.
After about one week I confessed that it was syrup I had made. Neither one of them could tell the difference and neither could I. So no more overpriced bottles of syrup for us. I will be making my own, how very Martha Stewart of me.

Peppermint Syrup Recipe
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 - 3/4 tsp. peppermint extract (depending on how much peppermint flavor you want)
Bring mixture to a low boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Let cool and refrigerate.

Now I am thinking about other flavored syrups I could make. Lemon syrup for a lemondrop martini would be yummy!