Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte

I think most coffee lovers will agree that Starbucks has some pretty amazing coffee. Now that Autumn has arrived, so has their impressive line of comforting, ritualistic and expensive cold weather beverages. Whoever you are, they probably have a beverage to suit your tastes, and leave you wanting more.

photo credit: starbucks.com

I love the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate:

photo credit: starbucks.com

My husband loves their Peppermint Mocha:

photo credit: starbucks.com

We both like the Pumpkin Spice Latte:

photo credit: starbucks.com

When we went to Starbucks last week, I ordered a Soy Pumpkin Spice Latte. It's about $4 for a Grande' Pumpkin Spice Latte, and they charge an extra .50 cents for soy milk in place of cow's milk. $4.50 is a bit out of my budget for a 16 ounce drink, and if my husband had ordered a similar soy drink, we would have paid almost $10 for two drinks. If we have no other options, like when we're on vacation or a road trip, we'll splurge, but otherwise, we like to make our own at home. This is when our espresso maker comes in handy. We bought it over two years ago when we were spending $50 a month at Starbucks, and realized that if I was going to be a SAHM, we were going to have to find a way to cut back in every possible way. Starbucks visits went from necessity to luxury. To this day, I use our espresso maker daily for my Iced Vanilla Latte. Starbucks sells many of the products they use in their drinks, including syrups, flavorings and even their cups! We bought these tumblers a couple months ago for our iced beverages. It's amazing what a well stocked kitchen can do for you in place of going out!

We decided to make our own copy cat version of Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, and it was so good and inexpensive that I want to share it with you! It's easily made Vegan by using soy milk. If you're a Vegan, you should know that the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, made with soy milk and sans whip is NOT Vegan. Read more here.  If you make this, please let me know how you liked it by clicking here!

Just Like Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte
recipe by David
 Ingredients:

2 shots Starbucks Espresso
2 tablespoons Starbucks vanilla syrup (or you can easily make your own)
1 cup milk (I used unsweetened soy)
1 tablespoon canned pumpkin
Pumpkin pie spice, for sprinkling

gather your ingredients

pour milk into a steaming pitcher and add pumpkin to the milk

then add vanilla syrup

and whisk until creamy and well blended

steam the pumpkin mixture using the steam wand

steam until foamy!

pour pumpkin milk into mug

add espresso

sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice

serve and enjoy!

For a soy Pumpkin Spice Latte in my area (Northern Louisiana), it costs about $4.50. Using organic soy milk(.37¢), organic pumpkin (.16¢), Starbucks espresso (.62¢) and pumpkin pie spice (negligible), the total cost of making this beverage at home is: $1.15¢

Go make it and let me know how it turns out for you!

  

Home Made Bagels

We eat bagels for breakfast often, and have grown to love Thomas's honey wheat quite a lot. They are chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside. One of David's old favorites is blueberry and mine used to be cinnamon raisin, but they both contain coloring and other additives. Not surprisingly, they all contain preservatives.

I decided to try to make my own bagels, and what do you know, though it took some time, (2 hours or so), it was a lot of fun and they turned out great!

Honey Wheat and Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
inspired by this recipe

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups (whole wheat and white wheat mix)
2 packages (1/4 oz each) active dry yeast or 4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 Tbs sugar or honey
1 Tbs salt
1 Tbs sugar

In a bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of the flour and the yeast.
Combine warm water, 3 Tbs sugar or honey and the salt.
Pour over the flour mixture.
Beat at low speed of electric mixer for about 30 seconds scraping the bowl as you mix. Beat 3 minutes at high speed.
Stir in as much remaining flour as you can mixing with a spoon.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface.
Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (knead 6-8 minutes total).
Cover; let rest 10 minutes.

(if you want to add cinnamon and raisins, add 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 cup raisins now and knead well)

Cut into 6 or 12 portions, depending on the size you want. (6 will be similar to Thomas' bagels in size)
Shape each into a smooth ball.
Make a hole in the center of each and pull gently to make a 1 1/2-2 inch hole.

Place on a greased baking sheet. Cover, let rise 20 minutes.
Broil on low 5 inches from heat 3-4 minutes, turning once (tops should not brown).



Heat 1 gallon of water and 1 Tbsp of sugar to boiling; reduce heat.
Cook 4 or 5 bagels at a time for 7 minutes, turning once; drain.



Place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 375* for 25-30 minutes.






Let cool, then slice. Enjoy!

Home Made French Bread

Home Made French Bread

Preparation: 90 minutes
Bake Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

* 5 cups bread flour
* 5 teaspoons active dry yeast
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1 tablespoon cornmeal
* 1 egg white
* 1 tablespoon water

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine yeast, melted butter, warm water and salt. Using a wooden spoon, stir in 2 cups flour, and beat until well blended. Gradually add the rest of the flour.
2. On a lightly floured surface, knead to make a stiff dough that is smooth and elastic. Knead for about 8 to 10 minutes total. Shape into a ball. Place dough in a greased bowl. Cover with a warm, damp kitchen towel, and let rise in a warm place (the microwave) until doubled.
3. Punch dough down, and divide in half. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover, and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll each half into large rectangle. *Roll up, starting from a long side. Moisten edge with water and seal. Taper ends.*
4. Grease a large baking sheet. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Place loaves, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet. Lightly beat the egg white with 1 tablespoon of water, and brush on. Cover with a damp cloth. Let rise until nearly doubled, 35 to 40 minutes.
5. With a very sharp knife, make 3 or 4 diagonal cuts about 1/4 inch deep across top of each loaf. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) oven for 20 minutes. Brush again with egg white mixture. Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until bread tests done. If necessary, cover loosely with foil to prevent over browning. Remove from baking sheet, and cool on a wire rack.

Adapted from this recipe.

I made this bread to go with our dinner tonight and we loved it! It's definitely a keeper! I had never made french bread before, and thought it was going to be difficult. I was surprised at how easy it was! It turned out wonderfully and tasted (almost) better than Albertson's, which says a lot!

I served it with whole grain pasta, garlic pasta sauce and grilled romaine hearts. Let me know what you think if you try it! :)


*P.S. Don't be afraid to roll the dough up. I was thinking of just skipping that and placing a big blob of dough shaped like a loaf of french bread and I am so glad I didn't. When you roll it up, it allows air to flow through the pockets and it creates a fluffy texture to the bread. So roll away!*