To combat the autumn blues, there is nothing better than a hot spicy invigorating drink. For example, I really like the pumpkin-spiced latte that appears every fall in Starbucks coffee shops. However, coffee shops of this chain are far from everywhere, and the prices for coffee there, frankly, are greatly overstated. But nothing will stop us from making this wonderful drink at home.
My recipe is for 2 servings of hot drink, and you still have a bottle of pumpkin syrup to use in the next week (it won't last longer).
Ingredients:
- Pumpkin - 500 g
- Water - 500 ml
- Granulated sugar - 250 g
- Ground cinnamon - 1 teaspoon
- Ground ginger - 1 teaspoon
- Ground nutmeg - 1 teaspoon
- Ground cloves - 1 teaspoon (or 3-4 whole cloves)
- Strong coffee - 200 ml
- Milk - 200 ml
- Whipped cream for garnish - optional
Preparation:
First you need to make the pumpkin syrup. The pumpkin can be boiled or baked in the oven. You can also take ready-made canned pumpkin puree (see the section with Baby Food). I prefer to boil, and then cook syrup on pumpkin broth.
- Peel and cut the pumpkin into small pieces. We send it to boiling water and cook until completely soft. The finished pumpkin can be mashed with a blender directly in the saucepan of water, where it was cooked, or removed from the water and kneaded well with a fork, and then sent back to the saucepan.
- We mix spices: ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. This mixture is called Pumpkin Pie Spice and is very popular in the USA and is sold ready-made there.
- We send spices and granulated sugar to a saucepan with pumpkin puree. Stir well and cook until thickened over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
- When the pumpkin syrup thickens, strain it through a sieve and pour it into a storage container, and leave 100 ml of syrup to prepare two servings of the drink.
- Heat milk on the stove or in the microwave, pour into mugs. In the original recipe, milk is whipped, but I don't - it doesn't affect the taste at all.
- Prepare a strong hot coffee and pour it into the milk mugs. The original recipe uses espresso, but you can make coffee the way you like - in a Turk, in a coffee maker, in a coffee machine, or you can use regular instant coffee, just make it more concentrated by reducing the amount of water or increasing the amount of coffee.
- Pour pumpkin syrup into mugs and stir the drink.
- If you wish, you can whip the cream (or use ready-made ones) and decorate the mugs with cream caps, and sprinkle with cinnamon on top. I often do without cream - the drink is great without it.
As you can see, the recipe is very simple, and even a slight simplification does not spoil the taste at all. And when drinking pumpkin-spicy latte, you will certainly be warmed by the thought that just one cup of such a wonderful drink in a famous coffee shop costs about 300 rubles.
So make a pumpkin-spicy latte for yourself and your loved ones, and the autumn blues will not be scary for you.
