Homemade Pancake Syrup

This morning I was craving French toast, so went to make some. But, horror of horrors, I had no syrup. I remembered my mom making it with brown sugar and water, then some maple extract, so tried making it myself. It turned out pretty good. I used half brown sugar and half water, simmered until it thickened a little bit, added some pure maple extract and gave it a taste. It really wasn't bad, better in fact than many of the maple flavored pancake syrups from the store. I used dark brown sugar and the molasses flavor was a bit stronger than I would have liked, so light brown would probably be better. While isn't the real thing from a good friend who makes maple syrup, it was better than store bought. A good thing to keep in mind when you are needing something like this.

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1 tsp. pure maple extract (or to taste)

Simmer sugar and water about 10 minutes or until thickened a little bit, remember, as it cools it will be thicker. Remove from heat and add extract. Cool to the temperature you want, I like a warmed syrup with my pancakes, waffles or French toast. You can substitute other flavors for the maple, vanilla works well I'm told.