Gingerbread Syrup (Sugar Free Option)
Gingerbread Syrup is full of warm spicy flavors like cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Add it to lattes, martinis and more for tasty holiday fun. There’s even a sugar free option.
I love all the holiday flavors! Pumpkin—yum! Peppermint—mmmm! Cinnamon—count me in!
But if there’s one that says comfort above others, I think it’s gingerbread.
Maybe it’s the fond memories of my grandmother’s iced gingerbread bars, or maybe it’s all the warm spices. Either way, it says cozy to me!
This gingerbread syrup makes it so easy to indulge in all the gingerbread flavors! Make it up once, then have gingerbread lattes all week! And maybe a gingerbread martini over the weekend!
Why You’ll Love This!
Tasty. Loaded with holiday spice flavors like cinnamon, ginger and cloves, this will cozy up your day.
Versatile. This syrup can be used in so many things, from lattes to martinis!
Festive. Celebrate the season and keep the winter cold at bay!
Sugar Free Option. Watching your sugar like me? With my sugar free gingerbread syrup, you don’t need to choose between feeling guilty or feeling deprived with treats like this!
What You’ll Need
Ingredient Notes
- Cinnamon, Cloves, Allspice, Ginger, Vanilla. These add gingerbread flavor to the syrup. I use whole spices and slices of frozen ginger (which I always have in my freezer).
- Orange Peel. This adds a brightness to the syrup. It made a big difference when I added it, so try not to omit it. Use the orange part only–avoid as much of the bitter white pith as possible.
- Brown Sugar or brown sugar allulose sweetener and (optional) xanthan gum. The sugar or sweetener adds sweetness and a touch of molasses flavor. The xanthan gum helps thicken the sweetener.
- Water. This is the base for the syrup.
Special Tools
- No special tools are required.
Step by Step Directions
If using sweetener, mix the sweetener with the xanthan gum. This keeps it from clumping when the water is added. In a small saucepan, combine all the ingredients. Heat, stirring, until sugar (or sweetener) dissolves. If the xanthan gum clumps, try whisking the syrup.
Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat. Cover and let the syrup sit until cool, then strain or remove spices and orange peel with a slotted spoon.
Store syrup, covered, in refrigerator. I used a lidded canning jar.
How to Serve
One thing I love about this syrup is the many things you can make with it! Like these!
- Gingerbread latte. Festive up your morning (or afternoon) coffee!
- Mulled wine. Did you know that mulling spices are the same as gingerbread spices?
- Gingerbread martini. Recipe coming!
- Ginger(bread) ale. Mix with fizzy water for a punched up ginger ale!
Leftovers
Store the syrup in the refrigerator and use within 2 weeks.
On Crystallization
One of the challenges in working with sweeteners is their tendency to crystallize. When this happens, you get crunchy crystals on the bottom of your otherwise smooth syrup.
Crystallization is a natural phenomenon and occurs even with real sugars. If you’re ever left pure maple syrup in the refrigerator too long, you will be familiar with it. But it tends to be a bigger issue with sweeteners.
I like to work with allulose (or allulose mixed with monk fruit or stevia) when I make a syrup since it’s less likely to crystalize than some others. I had many fruit syrup failures before I learned this!
Another factor in crystallization is the ratio of sweetener to water. Too much sweetener and it won’t stay “in solution.” I haven’t tested allulose to gauge the maximum ratio but I’ve kept this my refrigerator for two weeks without a problem, so I think it’s good.
Tips & FAQs
I personally like to use orange peel rather than orange zest in this. While they both work well, it’s easier to get the orange peel out of the final syrup. With the orange peel, I can use a slotted spoon to remove all the spices.
How do I get a good slice of orange peel? Use a good peeler and slice thinly. The white pith under the orange peel has a bitter flavor that isn’t ideal for gingerbread syrup. So you’ll want as thin a layer of orange peel as possible. 
How to keep oranges handy at all times. I sometimes have trouble finding organic oranges, which I prefer, especially when I’m using the peel. To deal with this I try to keep a couple organic orange in my freezer. Any time I need some orange peel or zest, I let the frozen orange warm for a minute or two, then zest or peel the orange while it’s still frozen. Then the remaining orange goes back until the next time it’s needed.
Do I need to peel the ginger? No, always needing to peel ginger is a myth–though in some applications its a good idea.
Gingerbread syrup
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar or 1 cup allulose mixed with 1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 2 cups water
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 4 allspice berries whole
- 8 cloves whole
- 1 inch piece of fresh ginger cut in ¼ inch slices.
- 4-6 slices of orange peel with minimal white pith
Instructions
- If using sweetener, mix the sweetener with the xanthan gum. This keeps it from clumping when the water is added. In a small saucepan, combine all the ingredients. Heat, stirring, until sugar (or sweetener) dissolves.
- Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat. Cover and let the syrup sit until cool, then strain or remove spices and orange peel with a slotted spoon.
- Transfer to a covered jar and store in the refrigerator.
Looks like I wanna use this in my pancake for my Christmas breakfast. Yum