Make your own pumpkin spice latte at home using real pumpkin

Fall time brings cooler temperatures, pumpkin décor and pumpkin treats. It’s my favorite time of year: Mother Nature gives us a respite from hot days, and you can smell a crispness in the air and see the leaves start to change to their vibrant, beautiful colors.

There’s a slower rhythm to fall, which I welcome with open arms. The foods we make during fall are even slower – soups, stews, pot roasts and roasted chicken.

The slower pace of fall calls for more cooking, more savoring and more connecting, and I plan to soak it all up this year. There’s nothing better to welcome in this slower season than making your own pumpkin spice latte.

With a few simple ingredients, you can make a delicious pumpkin spice latte at home using real pumpkin. The toasty spices, sweet creaminess and warmth are just what’s needed to taste and feel the season.

We know the building blocks of a latte are espresso, a milk or milk substitute frothed, and oftentimes a flavor. In this latte recipe, I featured Strive FreeMilk, a dairy-free milk alternative that tastes delicious. It froths just like cow’s milk, and the nutrition in it is superb – it has half the sugar and 10 grams of protein per cup.

Strive FreeMilk is made locally by Dennis Cohlmia’s company. He’s a decades-long global dairy industry leader, and this “milk” is the first vegan biologically-identical milk created with whey protein through fermentation. You can purchase it locally at Larcher’s Market or online from Amazon.

If dairy loves you and you love it back, you can also make this latte recipe with cow’s milk or your preferred milk alternative.

You most definitely can multiply the pumpkin spice “creamer” in this recipe and keep it in the fridge for quick, easy lattes in the morning. If you’re at all like me, the simpler the steps to get to coffee, the better.

Enjoy the pumpkin season, readers. It leads to the best time of the year: Christmas.

Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Yields: 2

2 tablespoons canned pumpkin

½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, plus more to garnish

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups Strive FreeMilk (or milk of choice)

2 shots espresso, about ¼ cup

¼ cup heavy whipping cream, whipped until firm peaks form (or dairy free whipped topping)

In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook the pumpkin with pumpkin pie spices for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until it’s hot and smells fragrant. Add the sugar and stir until the mixture looks like a thick syrup.

Add the milk and vanilla extract and warm gently over medium heat. Make sure it doesn’t boil over or burn. Carefully process the milk mixture in a blender until frothy and blended.

Make espresso and divide between two mugs and add frothed milk. Top with whipped cream (or dairy free whipped topping) and sprinkle of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice, if desired.