Pumpkin Spice Latte (Copycat Recipe)

It's Halloween season and that means time for a Pumpkin Spice Latte drink to brighten up your day! Pumpkin Spice Lattes are a version of a latte coffee but with pumpkin and pumpkin pie spices and a cloud of whipped cream on top! They're a seasonal favourite for a reason-they're absolutely delicious and now you can make them at home using this copycat recipe!

I've made countless pumpkin spice lattes a lot at home but none ever hit quite right until now. I love pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice but I wanted it to taste just like the drinks you buy at coffee shops (yes even Starbucks who I think helped popularise the pumpkin spice flavour). At Starbucks they use a pumpkin caramel sauce added to the coffee and each coffee comes with 4 standard pumps of this pumpkin sauce.

Tips For Making Pumpkin Spice Latte

1 The key to the pumpkin spice latte is the pumpkin syrup or sauce which is easy to make. Make up a jar of this and you'll have enough for several pumpkin spice lattes! It will cost you a fraction of what it would at the coffee shop.

2 Make sure that your pumpkin puree is super smooth. I put it through the Thermomix for 60 seconds on speed #10 (a high speed blender will do). You don't want any stringy bits at all because it will be unpleasant.

3 If you don't want to add whipped cream, you can add some frothed milk on top. A tip from my friend Laura is to use Shape no fat milk, as it froths up the best and it really does!

4 Here is my recipe for pumpkin pie spice mix and homemade pumpkin puree

Other Pumpkin Recipes You Might Like

• The BEST Pumpkin Pie Ever
• Pumpkin Loaf Bread
• Pumpkin Muffins
• Pumpkin Spice Choc Chip Cookies
• Pumpkin NY Crumb Cake
• Pumpkin Flan Creme Caramel

I made so many pumpkin spice lattes before I arrived at this recipe. I went down a little rabbit hole (wombat burrow? It wasn't that deep) as I started food detectiving which I don't even think is a word. I found that you could buy the Starbucks pumpkin sauce online but it was crazy expensive nor did I really want to buy it. But I looked up the ingredients and the first ingredient was sugar, then condensed milk and pumpkin puree and spices. A lot of pumpkin sauce recipes just combined the condensed milk with the pumpkin but I didn't feel like these were quite right. So I made a caramel, added condensed milk and pumpkin puree and it was amazing! It has a hint of real pumpkin flavour (and as its home made you are using real pumpkin) and a gorgeous aromatic mix of spices.

I realise that I may have to give up on my dream of being a detective but I love being a food detective and reverse engineering recipes. A lot of the reason is curiosity but I also having a challenge. Mr NQN and I were watching Law and Order SVU (I find it soothing after a long day) and Olivia and Elliot had entered a house and were promptly assaulted. I didn't like the look of that. "Would you do that?" asked Mr NQN looking at me doubtfully.

"No. I think I'd prefer to be a more station based detective. Not the kind that could get bonked on the head or tied to a bed," I told him truthfully.

"Do you mean like Monk?" he asked.

"Yes! That's exactly who I would like to be!" I said wondering if my detective dreams weren't crushed after all. I mean I don't really have his talents and food detectiving is all I've done. Maybe I should just stick to food detectiving!

So tell me Dear Reader, could you be a detective? What is your dream job?

Pumpkin Spice Latte

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Pumpkin Spice Sauce (makes 500g/1.1lbs)

• 200g/7ozs caster or superfine sugar
• 200g/7ozs sweetened condensed milk
• 200g/7ozs pumpkin puree
• 1-2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For 1 Latte

• 1 shot espresso
• 150ml/5flozs milk
• 1-2 tablespoons Pumpkin Sauce (above)
• Whipped cream (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Step 1 - Place the sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan and place on medium heat. Allow to melt and caramelise. The sugar around the edges will caramelise faster but spread it out with a silicon spatula until the entire mixture is liquid caramel-I take it off the heat when the edges are dark and then stir it so that the entire mixture is a caramel colour. It should take around 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the condensed milk making sure to dissolve it all in the corners of the saucepan. At first it will look like it will sieze and hardem but keep stirring. If you have waited a bit too long, place them both back on a low heat and this will soften the caramel and make it easier to stir in the milk. The stir in the pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice and salt. This jar will keep in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.

Step 2 - Combine 1 shot of espresso and 3 tablespoons of the pumpkin sauce and milk to a milk frother and set to heat. You can add whipped cream and then use a sifter to add a little pumpkin pie spice. Otherwise you can just froth the mixture instead of using cream.