Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte

When I logged onto Pinterest for the very first time I started browsing around and trying to figure it out.  It didn't take long before I was addicted to Pinning. I created board after board, the ideas and creativity were endless, my inspiration growing, my head spinning. "What a great idea!",  "That's so simple, why have I never thought of it?" and  "That looks delicious!" were my thoughts on repeat.  I would log on to see what my friends had found since I last had been on the site and pinned away.  I noticed, though, that I was collecting a borderline insurmountable amount of projects to do and things to try one day. I needed to start doing. 


My first Pinterest trial was a baby step.  A recipe. Everyone has tried new recipes so it wasn't that big of a leap, but I was excited.  Even recipes I have a tendency to collect and never actually try out, though.  I had happened upon a recipe for homemade pumpkin spice lattes.  One of the best things about Pinterest is that things are organized by images so before even seeing what the recipe calls for you are enticed by the finished project.  You can only hope that your attempt turns out as beautiful.  These pumpkin spice lattes were featured in mason jars set among fall leaves with a perfect dollop of whipped cream on top and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Beautiful. Even better, the first line in the blog it was featured in, The Pastry Affair, was "Let me start by saying the pictures don't do this drink justice. If I could, I would have captured this drink on a long walk beneath red, yellow, and purple trees. I would have photographed it between two warm mittens, as conversation among friends flowed between sips. I would have found it resting on a kitchen counter, enjoyed during an early fall sunset after a long day at work. ". Sold. I have to have this wonderful autumn in a cup in my cup soon.

Mine did not look quite like that. Mine were served in my mismatched collection of coffee cups, my whipped cream looked a little melty on top, and my pumpkin mixture was spooned into the coffee cups from the saucepan I had warmed it in. Nevertheless, I was pleased with how it looked and I did sprinkle the cinnamon on top to make it prettier. My guests were happy and the drink was delicious! 


There was one negative aspect to this recipe that in the spirit of this blog I wanted to point out. The pumpkin mixture was thick and would settle at the bottom of the cup after a couple of minutes requiring constant stirring to mix it up again.  When you got to the bottom of the drink it was pretty much undrinkable because of the thick sediment at the bottom. While writing this entry I looked back over the recipe and realized that this was my mistake!  I had missed the step in the recipe requiring you to put the mixture into a blender and blend until it's frothy.  I have no doubt that blending would have been just the trick to fix this so my tip to you is make sure you do that step.  It's an important one! The drink is no doubt still yummy without it, but it would have been a million times better without the stuff at the bottom. I say this pin was a crowd pleaser and easy to do so definitely worth a try. Happy pinning... and doing!




Here is the link to find the recipe: Pumpkin Spice Latte