How about a pumpkin spice latte?

Oh, it's chilly out there this morning! Slippers are on, fire is lit and a frothy, warm, spiced drink is in my cup.

Can you guess what it is?

You got it  - a pumpkin spice latte. And I made it myself.

This was an act of self care. We all need a little bit of sweet and cozy nourishment from time to time.

Yes, I fell down the internet rabbit hole that happens when you google "pumpkin spice latte". There are about 6 million variations on the drink but here are my criteria:

• No coffee. I gave it up in the springtime and pretty much every aspect of my physical being feels better for it. Where do I get my energy you may ask, especially when one of the small ones has you up too early or too late? Breathing excercises. I practice the Wim Hof method breathing exercises every morning and WOW! Energy, calm, clarity. Great way to start the day!
• No dairy. During the time when I was pregnant and breast feeding I could drink milk and eat ice cream with wild abandon and have no physical repercusions. Before that, I couldn't and so, believe me, I did take advantage of this new alliance with dairy. I drank organic whole milk from a local farm for about 4 years. There's a big blob of butter at the top of the ottle when you open it the first time. It's really good. And then it wasn't. Again my skin got dry and flaky and very itchy on my face and legs. No milk, no dry patches.

And that narrowed it down to about 4 million search results. But does anyone ever venture onto page 2 of a google search anyway?

I checked out a couple recipes and got the gist of things, looked at my supplies and here's what I came up with.

But first, the pumpkin puree, I made mine from scratch by roasting a sugar pie pumpkin (400F until the pumpkin is soft, mine took about 30 mins).Not a jack-o-lantern type pumpkin. This is a smaller variety with a more concentrated flavour perfect for making pies - the name really does say it all.

Charlotte and I scraped out the seeds first, though, washed and dried them, tossed them in olive oil and salt and roasted them off, too. Pumpkins are so great aren't they?

After the pumpkin was cool enough to handle, I scraped out all the fruit onto a cookie sheet and put it back in the oven for about 20 minutes to dry it out and concentrate the flavour. Then I pureed it until super duper smooth. I then made a pumpkin chiffon pie and had enough leftover for about a dozen lattes.

Alas, canned will work, too.

Pumpkin Spice Lattes For Two

I didn't actually measure anything for the recipe. You can totally customize it to your liking for spicy-ness or pumpkin-ness. Maybe you need a dash of ginger in there. Go for it!

2 cups milk of your choice

2 Tbsp pumpkin puree

1 Tbsp maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Dash vanilla (Optional, but oh so good. It's expensive these days.

Whisk it all together in a small saucepan. Heat to steaming. Stir occassionaly. Do not boil.

It's ok, if you want to drink it all yourself. Go for it!

I've also added a big spoonful of Bambu, a herbal coffee substitute and that is super nice to give it a bitter edge that balances with smooth and the creamy. Just what our old friend coffee would've done if given the chance.

And if you and coffee and good friends, then by all means throw that in there, too!

Stay warm and cozy.