Happy Fall!! Fall is my absolute favorite season. The crisp air, the colors, the cozy feeling and of course the food! October is also our anniversary month. Anthony proposed in September so I had to wait over a year to marry him because I always wanted a fall wedding. That was a very long year! There’s an internet picture floating around the past few years that says “If you say Pumpkin Spice Latte in the mirror 3 times a girl in yoga pants will appear and tell you how much she loves fall.” I am that girl, Fall wedding pictures to bore you with and all, ha!
Let’s talk about that Latte now. I always enjoyed it and looked forward to my first latte of the season, until Food Babe exposed the ingredients. I was enjoying ignorant bliss, I couldn’t see the ingredient list so I assumed they were safe since the shop has pictures of nature hanging on the walls. Yeah I was wrong and had to learn how to make it myself. It took a few tries and the use of sweetened condensed milk bought me the closest, milk and sugar are the only ingredients so not too bad. So now I can make Pumpkin Lattes right at home and we can skip the drive thu and get on our way to all of our Fall festivities.
Now this isn’t a copy cat version since this uses actual PUMPKIN but it’s a lovely treat that you can feel a little better about. A plus it doesn’t cost $5 since you probably have everything on hand. I use fresh pumpkins for all my pumpkin treats so I always have some purée in the freezer at all times. I’m actually good for a few years! Something I took from my Mom was to purée and freeze as many pumpkins as I could during the fall so I can have a pumpkin pie whenever I wanted year round. The only problem is I’m not like my Mom when it comes to baking I enjoy experimenting and seasonal baking, so I have a full stock pile of pumpkin in the freezer because I really only use it during the fall but have kept adding to it. This year I’m going to try to only buy what I’ll use this season although they double as decoration so I doubt I’ll follow that plan!
Back to the latte, it’s real ingredients so it’s going to be a little different but sitting in the cup holder it smells just like the “real” PSL! Just like at the shop make it as sweet as you like. The mix is the flavoring you then add to you brewed coffee add frothed milk and play around to get your perfect cup!
And just for the record I’m not going to be looking up the ingredients in any of their red cup coffees for my holiday shopping trips!
Pumpkin Latte Homemade
Makes a big batch of “syrup”
1 cup pumpkin purée
1/2 cup white sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tbs pumpkin pie spices, to taste
1/2 – 1 cup of milk of your choice
Directions:
In a medium size sauce pan add first 4 ingredients, mix and heat on medium to combine. Add milk for desired consistency. Stir and strain through a seive or layers of cheesecloth for an even smoother texture, use right away or refrigerate for up to a week.
To make latte:
Brew coffee pour in cup half way and add “syrup mix” to taste. (I use about 1/2 coffee 1/2 mix in the cup!) Finish with cream or choice of milk. Alternatively if cold you can reheat the mix with the cream or milk. Add frothed milk to top. I add sugar to my frothed milk too. Some like it hot I like it seeet!
Cooks note: I’ve only used fresh pumpkin and recommend them, easier then a butternut squash and the satisfaction is awesome! Poineer women has a nice post about fresh pumpkin purée. If using canned pumpkin you may have to add more liquid to get the same pourable consistency then more sweetness just taste as you go!
ENJOY!
Recipe inspired by Natural Mama
Lemons and Chocolate 