48 easy and tasty leftover sugar syrup recipes by home cooks (2024)

FAQs

What can be made from leftover sugar syrup? ›

As a sugar alternate

It's also a great alternative to honey or maple syrup to drizzle over your fun breakfasts. You can also use leftover syrup in cookie dough instead of white sugar to give your cookies a unique flavor. Make sure to add it only a little at a time, since the flavor really seeps into the dough.

The water should be hot enough to dissolve the sugar completely, but you don't want to boil simple syrup for too long (or you'll end up with caramel). Cool the simple syrup completely. Once the sugar is dissolved, let the syrup cool completely before storing.

The shelf life of your simple syrup will depend upon the cleanliness of the airtight container and the amount of sugar in your mixture. The standard one-to-one sugar-to-water ratio will produce a simple syrup that lasts about one month in the fridge.

Your simple syrup shouldn't be limited to co*cktails! You can also use simple syrup to make sorbet, to sweeten tea and lemonade, or to keep cakes moist.

The best part: the candied peels last for up to 3 months eat them candied or dip them in chocolate for an extra decadent treat. Save the orange-scented syrup to elevate pancakes, co*cktails, baked pears, French toast, or even fruit salad.

Simple syrup should be stored in the fridge, and not kept at room temperature for extended periods of time. Unflavored syrup can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a month.

If you have more than two years worth, put the excess in the freezer. Here it can be store indefinitely. Sometimes you may see some sugar crystals form in the bottom of the syrup container. This is not a sign of spoilage, but rather just the extra sugar falling out of the syrup itself.

How do you use syrup in food? ›

Sugar syrup (also called simple syrup) is basically just a mix of sugar and water. Sugar syrup is also one of the most essential ingredient in co*cktails.

When the sap reaches 66.9% sugar, it is then maple syrup. Maple syrup that is boiled too long will crystallize and maple syrup that isn't boiled long enough will spoil quickly and will be watery because the concentration of sugar in the syrup will be too low.

Combine your sugar and water off the heat, and stir it just until the sugar is evenly moistened. Avoid stirring the sugar if at all possible once you put it on the stove. Agitation can cause the sugar to crystallize.

Refrigerating simple syrup extends its shelf life and slows the future growth of bacteria. You can keep it at room temperature, but it will go bad much faster. If you plan use up it up within a few days, it can be stored at room temperature. Otherwise I highly recommend storing it in the fridge or freezer.

A syrup that is equal parts of sugar and water will freeze better than a syrup with a higher sugar content. That 1:1 ratio has more water and will freeze easily. However, a rich syrup will eventually freeze, but at a lower temperature/freeze point.