Make a Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte

This morning I was going to write about how recently I had to explain to my 3 year old daughter what happened to Bambi's Mom, but then I decided that a post like that needed way more attention and humor than I have to offer today.

But what I could really go for right now, after waking up to soaking wet sheets in the toddler room for the second day in a row (potty training FAIL), is a pumpkin spice latte. I hope you don't mind, I'm bringing this recipe over from my personal blog, and sharing it here.

Moms. Treat yourself. I know I'm going to.
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If you follow me on Twitter, then you've probably heard me talk about my once nightly pumpkin spice lattes. "Is she made out of money", you wonder? No. I wish. I could have five dollar bills for fingers, and silver dollars for eyes, wouldn't that be the life? Well- I've since slowed down on the lattes, by the way, limiting them to just the weekends, and only once during the week (Thursdays usually, since that's my TV night). The cost of milk adds up, and so do the calories in the whip cream (har har).

I'm not going to lie, I have destroyed this recipe a hundred billion times in the past. I've been trying to make the perfect pumpkin coffee on my stove top for years. I haven't always had the Internet, or fancy kitchen equipment. Or maybe it was my lack of kitchen based common sense.

Finally! This is my year. I've taste tested this recipe at least 50 times, so you can trust that its worthy of your coffee mug. Rather than handing over your debit card and spending $10 for two grande lattes at that other place (which is still nice to do sometimes, just to get out of the house), you can put on your fancy apron, pocket the majority of that plastic, and do it yourself.

I present to you, the homemade pumpkin spice latte, for two-
(Moms- don't be shy, drink both shares yourself, haha)


Of course, you can half this recipe if you need to, but my theory is, a pumpkin spice latte just tastes better when you've got someone to enjoy it with, don'tcha think? I never make them for just myself. The one time that I did, I was too busy running after kidlets to even taste it. And before I knew it, it was gone, and I was hurtin'. And have you ever chugged a psl? Its not a good thing. Your tummy will not be thanking you. So make enough for two, enjoy it with a friend, and have a happy stomach.

A double dose of pumpkin spice latte:

Ingredients
-2 cups of milk
-1 cup of coffee
- 4-5 spoonfuls of pumpkin puree
-1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-a big pinch of ginger
-a dash of nutmeg
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1 teaspoon stevia (you don't have to use stevia, you can use all sugar instead, please read below)
-2 tablespoons sugar

I know not everyone has stevia on hand. Some of you will never, have stevia on hand. I like stevia, because I like my sweets (for those of you that don't know what stevia it is, its a zero calorie natural plant based sweetener). I looooove my sweets. I can push the oh-I-shouldn't-be-eating-this guilt away when I use stevia, most of the time at least. I've made this without stevia a few times, and in place of it, just add more sugar. 2-4 tablespoons more sugar, depending on your taste preference.

Directions:
Put all of your ingredients into a blender, and blend it. My biggest problem in the past, was I would try to mix all of the ingredients together in the sauce pan, and the spices would be so gritty after it cooked, it would be completely un drinkable, even after I attempted to save it by straining. So the secret, is blend that stuff up! I'm lucky, I have a Vita-mix (the mother of all blenders, thanks to last years tax return, I use it at least 3 times a day), so I can put it in the blender, turn it on, walk away for 5 minutes, and come back to a steaming container full of ready to drink frothy latte. But, I've made this recipe on the stove top as well.

After you've blended your raw ingredients for a minute or so, pour it all into a saucepan and heat on a medium heat setting. Heat it until its steaming, and as hot as you want it. After being the blender for a minute or longer, it should have come out a little bit frothy, that's how we like it! After its warmed up and simmered to your liking, you do the obvious- pour it into mugs, top with whip cream (I've never bought whip in the past, but for this, I had to), maybe sprinkle some cinnamon on top (ok I don't normally do that, I just did it for the pictures, haha), and drink it.

Pumpkin is the best part of the season. For a delicious gluten free pumpkin cheesecake pancake recipe to go with your latte, click here. Oh whatever, you can spoil yourself, nobody is looking.


Charlie wishes he could have some. Sorry pal, maybe in a few 16 years or so, hehe.

I'd love to hear comments from anyone that tries this, really. I've been meaning to put this recipe up for a few weeks now, but never got around to taking pictures. And we all know that the blog post is nothing without the pictures to go with it :)

If you're not a coffee drinker, this also makes a delicious pumpkin milk. Sometimes, if shes in the mood for it, we blend a little soy milk with the latte mixture that's left lining the walls of the blender, for our daughter. She loves it.

(Edit: I'm loving the feedback that everyone has left on this! Two lovely ladies that tried it suggested that for a lighter version (not lighter as in calories, but lighter as in, not as thick) of this psl, try it with a little less pumpkin, and a little bit more milk. I tried it like that last night, and it was SO GOOD. Thanks girls!)