Cooking: Buttermilk Syrup for Gifting

 

I went to breakfast with some girlfriends this week to celebrate Christmas and exchange some small gifts. What a luxury to go out to breakfast, and especially this time of year! It was so nice to take a breather and talk about lighthearted things before leaping back into juggling kiddos and Christmas to-dos. The annual gift exchange and lunch, which is what we typically do, is one of my favorite events of the season! I came home with some heartfelt and handpicked things to add to the Christmas display and to use all year round.

This year I was giving this fun snowflake-shaped pancake mold and wanted something to go with it. I don't typically do handmade for the Christmas gifts (I save that for the birthday gifts, such as these) but I decided to make some buttermilk syrup to go along with these. I saw a recipe for this syrup in this cookbook and have been thinking about it since. I found some recipes for it online as well so I combined them a bit for this version (click below to read more for recipe).

 

To package the syrup I used these simple canning jars I found when planning Audrey's birthday party this spring. I love the brushed silver lids and they were readily available when I was trying to pull this together in an afternoon.  I cut out circles from some scrapbooking paper to stick on the top of the lids and wrapped the jars with red ribbon. Then I punched out matching tags (using this recently acquired Giga punch) for the pancake molds, loaded everything in a tote and I was off to breakfast!



Click to read more if you are interested in the syrup recipe. If you like butter and sugar then this is the syrup for you!

Buttermilk Syrup (yields enough to fill two 16 oz jars)

3 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup butter
4 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons baking soda

In a large saucepan (this syrup foams up quite a bit while cooking!) over medium high heat, stir together sugar, buttermilk, butter, maple syrup and baking soda and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low (should be simmering) and stir constantly until the color turns a bit golden. Remove from heat.  Serve immediately or allow to cool to room temperature, pour into jars and refrigerate until ready to use.