Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte

This blog was originally posted on my previous site, may it rest in pieces.  

Okay… so I said it last week, and I’ll say it again… I love pumpkin.  So this morning I decided to try what’s been all over Pinterest… a homemade pumpkin spice latte.  What caused this seemingly sporadic decision?  An e-mail from beachbody with a healthier version of a pumpkin spice latte.  117 calories?  I can deal with that.  And I had all the ingredients in my kitchen except the nonfat milk (I subbed almond milk).

So here’s the recipe we’re working with:

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Ingredients:
• 1 cup non-fat milk* (I used almond milk)
• 1 Tbsp. unsweetened, canned pumpkin puree
• ¼ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup brewed black coffee
• 1 dash ground nutmeg (to taste; optional)

1. Add milk, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla extract to medium saucepan. Turn on heat to low and stir until mixture is close to but not boiling (look for lots of small bubbles on the sides of the pot).
2. Remove from heat and mix vigorously with a metal whisk until frothy. Pour into mug, add brewed coffee.

 Nutritional Information (per serving):
Calories: 117, Fat: <1g, Carbohydrate: 26g, Fiber: 5g, Sugar Total: 19g, Protein: <1g
*Calories: 96, Fat: 3, Carbohydrate: 12g, Fiber: 2g, Sugar Total: 10g, Protein: 2g (using almond milk and figured out using myfitnesspal)

My thoughts.  Um… YUM!  Seriously. I was surprised at how yummy my homemade version turned out.  It wasn’t as sweet as what you’d get from Starbucks, but that could be partially because of the almond milk (nonfat milk has more sugar in in than almond milk).  Also, I wasn’t able to get my milk very foamy, but that could be because I didn’t have a whisk (this gypsy is subleasing right now… so a lot of my kitchen stuff in still in storage).  I didn’t mind the lack of froth, though, I’m not much of a foamy person.

Now I will say this isn’t a “quick out the door” treat; you’ll need some time to prep it.  Plan on taking about 5-10 minutes to prep the milk mixture.  However, it’s not like it needs your full attention!  You can make yourself a quick egg-white scramble at the same time (Multi-tasking score!).

Needless to say, this is a do-again.  Maybe tomorrow morning in fact.  And the morning after that too.  In fact, I think I’m going to stock up on pumpkin so I can do it all year round.  Ha! Take that! you coffee shops who torture me by taunting with pumpkin for only 3 months a year!  I win this round.  Hmmm… speaking of… off to the store!