I am not much for frequenting the local Starbucks, or any other coffee shops anymore. It isn’t really the thing with four kids and breastfeeding. However, I had recently discovered the Starbuck Pumpkin Spice Latte and was getting a bit addicted. It was hitting me hard in the wallet too, so before my hubby could notice all the charges on our bank card for $4 drinks, I decided to save him some money and my own sanity by making them at home! Sonlight ladies turned me on to making the key ingredient at home: Pumpkin Spice Syrup!
Now I didn’t exactly follow a recipe here, but I guarantee you can whip this up without one.
In a saucepan, mix about 1-1/2 cups sugar and about 1 cup of water. Stir to dissolve. Add in ground cinnamon, ground ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. You could also use allspice in this, but I didn’t have any. You could also include a bit of orange peel, maybe some brown sugar in place of some of the white, pure maple syrup or even just regular pumpkin pie spice mix. You want to achieve that “fall” taste. I also included two chunks of fresh pumpkin from our just carved jack o’ lanterns. Bring to a slow boil and stir a lot so it doesn’t burn. Cook until the water is mostly cooked off and you have a syrup consistency. Remove the pumpkin chunks if you used them and any “whole” spices you may have used. Put your syrup in a jar to keep in the fridge. Add to coffee or steamed milk and enjoy!
PS. If you don’t have a fancy coffee maker, you can make simple, frothy steamed milk easy on the stove. Pour the milk into a saucepan and turn on the heat. With a whisk, beat the milk into a froth until it is hot. You can achieve a lot of froth this way. Just be careful not to let the milk come to a boil. Pour into mugs with pumpkin spice syrup and enjoy! This is a great treat for the kids!
i can’t wait to hear about the Keys! we are going in June 2010 – yeah!