Wordless Wednesday: Happy Pumpkin Spice Latte Week!!

They are back!! Have you had your first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season? P.S. I hear the Salted Carmel Mochas are also amazing.

Pumpkin Spice Latte (take 2)

So after making about 100 pumpkin spice lattes in the last couple of weeks, my Mom and I have found another way to make these that is much easier than my original recipe found here. Also, the pumpkin we were using wasn't really mixing well, and left a bunch of grit at the bottom of our drinks.

Easy Pumpkin Spice Latte

1. Make a single serving espresso or other strong coffee (you will probably want 1/4 to 1/2 of your cup to be the strong coffee depending on the flavor you want).

2. Heat up about half mug of milk (skim, 2%, whole, or whatever) for about 1 - 2 mins (don't let is scortch though).

3. Mix espresso in with the milk.

4. Mix in about 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and sugar to taste.

5. Top it off with some whipped topping and a few more shakes of pumpkin pie spice.

6. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Latte (similar to Starbucks) & Pumpkin Pie Spice

I love Starbucks a little too much, so when I came across this recipe on The Kitchn, I just knew I had to try it. It's a little bit of work, took about 10 mins or so to heat everything on the stove, but it is very tastey. Great idea for a lazy weekend morning. I actually needed a little more espresso than what was called for below, but it was so tastey! I enjoyed mine with a pumpkin donut that we got from Lindsay's Bakery at the Circleville Pumpkin Festival the other day.

Pumpkin Spice Latte
makes 1-2 servings
Ingredients:
-- 2 cups milk
-- 2 tablespoons canned pumpkin
-- 2 tablespoons sugar or sugar substitute
-- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
-- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I made this, see below)
-- 1-2 shots espresso (about 1/4 cup of espresso or 1/2 cup of strong brewed coffee if you don't have an espresso machine.)

Directions:
In a saucepan combine milk, pumpkin and sugar and cook on medium heat, stirring, until steaming. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and spice, transfer to a blender and process for 15 seconds until foamy. If you don't have a blender, don't worry about it - just whisk the mixture really well with a wire whisk.
Pour into a large mug or two mugs. Add the espresso on top.

Optional: Top with whipped cream and sprinkle pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, or cinnamon on top.

I did not have any pumpin pie spice, so I found a recipe for this online:

Pumpkin Pie Spice
-- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
-- 1/4 tsp ground cinger
-- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
-- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Mix all spices together, makes 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice