Happy
Tuesday! I am still continuing with making ingredients for my Sri Lankan Christmas Cake. My mother said I needed Golden Syrup so I looked online to see how much it would cost. A small can was $7 dollars on Amazon. So I googled if I could make it at home. That's when I found a YouTube video from Todd's Kitchen that showed me the exact process. Now the recipe he gave was in metric so I did my best to convert it over to US measurements. The recipe I am providing today is based on the final US measurements I ended up using to make my Golden Syrup. Now some of you may be asking, what is Golden Syrup? I have tried treacle because it's used a lot in Sri Lanka, but was not sure about Golden Syrup either. Well, now that I've had it and tasted it (a lot) it's almost a honey like thick amber colored syrup. It's taste quite rich and delicious and is even great simply on some plain Greek Yogurt or on pancakes.
It was so easy to make as well. Yes, it did take some time and patience, but there is really nothing hard about it. Now I must say I did make a mistake my first try at making the syrup. I did not have all my ingredients per-measured and ready before starting the process. Big No-No! My syrup went from amber to dark in seconds and I ended up with a very dark syrup. I thought I had ruined it until I tasted it. Eureka! I had made a syrup very close to my beloved treacle. So nothing was wasted.
I still had to get the Golden Syrup my mother needed for the Christmas Cake so I tried it again the next day. The only cost to make this recipe is sugar and a slice of lemon so it was worth a second try for sure. My second time around I prepared and measured all my ingredients ahead of time. You need to add boiling water which was my big downfall from the first time around so make sure to have that ready as well. Once the sugar starts to turn light brown it goes to caramel then to deep caramel very quickly, then to burned. This is the critical stage because if you want that lovely golden color you need to be totally watching like a hawk at this point. So for my second attempt I had everything lined up and ready to go. The end result was fantastic! Now I can make both Golden Syrup and a Treacle fake-out at home for pennies. Thank you Todd's Kitchen for your very useful and delicious recipe/method!!
Ingredients:
First Step:
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
3 Tbs water
Second Step:
2 1/3 cups white granulated sugar
1/2 in slice of fresh lemon
1 1/2 cups boiling water
Note: Method and recipe based on Todd's Kitchen.
Directions:
In a pot on medium heat and add the first step ingredients of the 1/2 cup sugar and 3 Tbs water. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the sugar starts to turn caramel color. This step took several minutes. (Be careful because it goes from light caramel to dark caramel fast) 
When you get the right color add the boiling water (add it slowly because it will splatter). Then add the lemon slice (this stops the sugar from continue to caramelize) and the remaining sugar. Stir well until the sugar dissolves. Then place it on a medium low or low heat and allow to simmer gently for 45 minutes exactly. Note: I set it on medium low on my stove because low did not provide a gentle simmer, but you need to see a gentle simmer so what ever setting on the stove that provides that will work. I did not stir during the simmering stage. I just check on the process from time to time to make sure it stayed at a gentle simmer. 
Note: You can store this syrup in a cool dry place for a month or more.
Note: Here is a photo of my "Treacle" syrup. I allowed the sugar to caramelize too much before adding the boiling water.
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