‘Tis the season for pumpkin spice. Can you believe Starbucks has already started selling their famous Pumpkin Spice Latte? This year it supposedly contains real pumpkin (it’s really disconcerting that they actually had to advertise that…). Anyways, at the end of August, I received one of those PSL Fan Pass via email, like everyone else subscribed to receive Starbucks emails. This was exciting news, every year I look forward to my Pumpkin spice lattes! So the next morning, I picked up my grande PSL and guess what…I did not enjoy it at all.
I guess doing the Whole 30 really changed my taste buds and it gave me an instant tummy ache. I’ll tell you about the Whole 30 and my experience in another post.
It was disheartening that I no longer enjoyed my Starbucks PSL, now what am I suppose to do with my fall season…. *sad face* After feeling sorry for myself for longer than I would like to admit, I decided that I could just make a healthier pumpkin spice latte. One that, hopefully, wouldn’t make me want to curl up in the fetal position.
So first things, I had to figure out a way to create a pumpkin spice syrup for my latte. After spending a few hours, experimenting, I created a pretty good syrup! Gotta love my organic honey! Funny, I tried two different kinds of honey, one made me feel sick to my stomach and the other, the organic one, actually made me smile. Not sure why, but whatever.
Okay, so if you are looking for a way to drink a pumpkin spice latte that won’t make you regret all of your life decisions then you will love this recipe. You can see all the ingredients I used to make my latte. Yes, that’s some Spicy Jack Daniels in the background. What can I say, it was a long day…
So first you’ll need to make the syrup (this will make enough my many future PSLs)
You’ll need:
2/3 cups of organic honey
1/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of pumpkin puree
1 tsp pumpkin spice
3 cinnamon sticks
Take all those ingredients listed above and combine them in a medium pot over medium heat. You want to make sure you don’t burn it, so stir and stir some more.
After about 2-5 mins, my ingredients came to a boil. When that happened, I reduced the heat and let it simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
Your kitchen will probably start to smell like honey and pumpkin now. Enjoy it. It’s awesome and it’s probably better for you than a candle. Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool down. Once it has cooled down, transfer it to a jar.
So now the fun part, your latte! I react to dairy, which sucks because I love my cheeses and yogurts *sad face* but in the last few months, I have found some pretty awesome alternatives. I now love my almond milk and cashew milk! You can make your latte using regular milk or if you’re like me, use a nondairy alternative. For this recipe, I used unsweetened almond milk, because the syrup is sweet. I loved it. I have tried cashew milk and I loved that even more. So it’s up to you.
What you’ll need:
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/3 cup of very strong coffee
3 tsp of Tennessee Fire Jack Daniels Whiskey
1 1/2 Tbsp of pumpkin spice syrup
Pumpkin spice for sprinkling over the foamy goodness
Heat your milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat. I have a Milk Frother so I used that to froth my milk. If you don’t have one you can click on the link to get one (it is an affiliate link) or you could simply whisk the milk as it’s heating up. Put some good arm movement into it. Now brew your strong coffee and pour it into your mug, pour the Whiskey in and add the syrup. Stir it together. Now pour the milk into your mug. I used a large spoon to hold back the foam. Before I spooned the foam into my mug, I stirred up my coffee, milk, whiskey, and syrup. Now spoon the foam on top, and sprinkle some pumpkin spice or cinnamon over it.
PrintHealthier Pumpkin Spice Latte
- Total Time: 13 mins
- Yield: 2 1x
Ingredients
For the Syrup:
- 2/3 cups of organic honey
- 1/4 cup of water
- 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp pumpkin spice
- 3 cinnamon sticks
For the Latte:
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/3 cup of very strong coffee
- 3 tsp of Tennessee Fire Jack Daniels Whiskey
- 1 1/2 Tbsp of pumpkin spice syrup
- Pumpkin spice for sprinkling over the foamy goodness
Instructions
For the Syrup:
- Combine the honey, water, pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice and cinnamon sticks in a medium pot over medium heat. You want to make sure you don’t burn it, so stir and stir some more.
- After about 2-5 mins, your ingredients should come to a boil. When this happens reduce the heat and let it simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
- Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool down. Once it has cooled down, transfer it to a jar.
So now the fun part, your latte!
- Heat your milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
- As your milk warms up, froth your milk either using a frother or by using a whisk.
- Now brew your strong coffee and pour it into your mug, pour the whiskey in and add the syrup. Stir it together.
- Use a large spoon to hold back the foam. Pour the milk into your mug.
- Before spooning the foam into your mug, stir up your coffee, milk, whiskey, and syrup once more.
- Spoon the foam on top, and sprinkle some pumpkin spice or cinnamon over it.
- Prep Time: 3 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
There you have it. A healthier Pumpkin Spice Latte. Well if you omit the whiskey, it’ll be even healthier but come on you deserve it every once in a while. Now if you excuse me, I’m going to make myself a PSL. After all, it’s Sunday and I have a book to finish reading.
Happy Sunday, Friends!
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