Dark Chocolate Balsamic Sauce

You will need:
-1 C balsamic vinegar (doesn't have to be fancy, mine was Colavita and I got it at Target)
-1/2 C water
-1/4 C sugar
-1/3 C Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate powder
-Optional 1 tsp vanilla, raspberry, or orange extract (experiment with different flavors, I think orange would be amazing!)

You will need two sauce pans for this.  In the first, heat your balsamic vinegar on medium-low or so until it is reduced by half, stirring often.  Set aside to cool.

Add the water and sugar to another pan, dissolve the sugar, and bring to a boil.  Reduce immediately to low and add the cocoa, stirring to dissolve. Heat on low and stir until the syrup begins to thicken.  Remove from heat and add any extracts you want to use.  Mint could also be interesting.  Set aside to cool.

Combine the two once cool and transfer to desired bottle for serving or gifting.

So first off, I discovered while making this that I HATE the smell of balsamic while it is reducing.  I love the taste of it on salads, I love this chocolate as is...but I hate the middle part of turning one into the other.  It is pretty powerful, so be prepared.

The great thing is the end product.  The chocolate almost has a fruity undertone, and it would be great with cheesecake, ice cream, and potentially even savory dishes.  I think this would be fantastic on like a dessert pizza or similar.

Now, admittedly, I probably did not reduce mine as much as I should have but I was just not liking the smell, but the end product was still great! So even if you cut it just a little shy, don't give up on it.  The thicker chocolate can really balance it out, and I actually liked it being a little thinner of a sauce.

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