Recipe: Healthy Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte – Southern Curls & Pearls

We recently updated our coffee bar for fall, and I wanted to share the details with you all! Ever since we moved into our new house, I’ve been trying to find the perfect spot for our Breville Oracle Touch espresso machine (we’ve had this espresso machine for EIGHT years now and I’m still obsessed with it!!). For the past year, it’s been hidden away in our pantry. I recently decided to move it to our butler’s pantry, where it is more visible – and more accessible! In moving it to such a visible location, though, I knew it needed its own coffee bar surrounding it.

I decided to store all of the coffee beans in this beautiful glass canister, alongside this little wooden coffee spoon. My vanilla and caramel syrups went into these vintage-inspired etched glass bottles on top of this affordable marble tray. For accent pieces, I paired together this brown eucalyptus bundle with this gray wash vase. And since no coffee bar is compete without some “moody” artwork, I added this pear print and this framed sketch.

Now that my coffee bar is all set up for fall, I’ll be continuing to make my homemade pumpkin spice latte recipe! This recipe is sooo good and is my go-to every singe fall because it’s 1. healthy, 2. tastes DELICIOUS and 3. can be made at home in the comfort of my own kitchen. I don’t think I have to tell you guys about how most coffee-shop versions contains barely any “real” pumpkin and more sugar in one serving than the recommended limit. Meanwhile, this one is made with REAL pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice, and rather than cane sugar or corn syrup, it contains real maple syrup (just make sure you are using a high-quality syrup!). I love how the flavor of pumpkin is present but not overpowering, it’s sweet but not sugary, and the scents of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves will tickle your nose and have you pulling out your UGG boots and blanket scarves. 😉

Okay, on to the recipe!

My Healthy Homemade PSL

• 1 shot of espresso
• 1 TBSP organic maple syrup
• 1 TBSP organic pumpkin puree (or more to taste)
• 1 TSP organic pumpkin pie spice
• 1 cup milk or almond milk

1. When the espresso is still piping hot, stir in the maple syrup, pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice and stir until well combined.
2. Using a milk steamer or milk frother, steam the milk until foamy on top, then pour slowly into the espresso mixture.
3. Top with an extra sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice.
4. ENJOY!

A few notes about this recipe: it’s really easy to make this entire recipe organic! You can use organic coffee beans or coffee grounds, organic maple syrup, organic milk, etc. and *voila* you have a perfectly clean, delicious latte to help wake you up and get you going in the morning.

Another note about this recipe: You do need an espresso machine to make this. The cheapest one I could find on Amazon is this one for around $140. A typical latte is made with espresso and steamed milk, and it just doesn’t work to use regular coffee because it tastes too watered down (trust me, I tried). On that note, you also really need a milk steamer in order to get a creamy consistency with foam on top, but if you don’t have one, you could try putting the milk in a blender and blending for a minute or two. For this recipe, I’ve been using grass-fed, organic whole milk and it froths up beautifully.

If you really want to go all out, I highly recommend our espresso machine, the Breville Oracle Touch espresso machine. Yes, it is an investment, but I’ve seriously used it every single day for EIGHT YEARS. Can you just imagine the money that I’ve saved instead of buying a store-bought latte every day? I love our Breville Oracle Touch because it’s user-friendly (it has a convenient touch-screen!) but still very customizable. The more that you experiment with your coffees, the more you will learn how you like to drink them. Another benefit of this machine is that it really is durable! I can’t imagine having any other coffee maker for eight years and it holding up so well.

Okay loves, that’s it for today! If you try out this recipe I would love for you to let me know how you like it! Or if you choose to share it on Instagram/Instastories I will definitely repost!

xoxo