Tag Archive | Pumpkin

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

Oct21

One of my favourite things about fall is pumpkin spice lattes. You can find one at Starbucks of course, but I thought that perhaps I could make a similar one at home without it costing me over 5$!

You will need the following ingredients:

  • 4 cups of water
  • 4 tablespoons of white sugar
  • 4 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
  • 2 ½ teaspoons of ground nutmeg
  • 1 ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 ¼ teaspoon ground clove
  • 10 tablespoons of pumpkin puree
  • 4 cinnamon sticks
  • 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan combine water and both types of sugar over medium heat. Stir until the sugars have completely dissolved.

Add in cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and clove. Whisk in pumpkin puree. Add cinnamon sticks and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not boil!

Add vanilla and remove from stove. Strain mixture into mason jar and store in the refrigerator.

Making a Latte

To make the latte, add about 3 teaspoon at the bottom of your coffee cup (you can add more, depending on how flavourful you want the latte to be. Add about ⅓  to ½ strong coffee, and fill up the rest with frothed milk. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon and enjoy!

I actually like this one better than the one you get at Starbucks :P!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Oct15

You can’t let fall pass by without baking with pumpkin at least once. I love everything pumpkin – pumpkin pie, pumpkin loaf, pumpkin scones, pumpkin lattes…you name it. This week is my brother’s 21st birthday (Shout out to the little bro), and I decided to make pumpkin muffins.

These are healthy-ish; I don’t use any oil, butter, or white flour. But do not fear – these bad boys don’t lack any flavour whatsoever.

*Recipe makes 24*

You will need the following ingredients for the muffins:

  • 2 cups of Whole Wheat Flour
  • 1 1/4 cups of Whole Grain Oat Flour
  • 2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
  • 4+ tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 1/2 cups Brown Sugar
  • 2 cups Canned Pumpkin (not to be confused with pumpkin pie mix!!!)
  • 1 cup Cinnamon Applesauce – applesauce is a great healthy substitute for butter or oil
  • 4 large eggs
  • Walnuts and/or cranberries if desired

First, preheat the oven at 350° F and grease two muffin pans.

You will need the following ingredients for the topping, which you should prepare first:

  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 5 tbs white flour
  • 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 4 tbsp applesauce

Mix ingredients, stir well with a spoon or using a whisk, and refrigerate.

In bowl, mix in muffin dry ingredients and stir.

  • If you do not have Oat Flour, like me, you can used the same amount of Whole Grain Oats and run them through a food processor or Magic bullet
  • If you do not have Pumpkin Pie Spice, make it by mixing the following: 2tbsp Ground Cinnamon, 1 1/2 tbsp Ground Nutmeg, 2 tsp Ground Ginger, 1-1/2 tsp Ground Allspice

Mix in wet ingredients and stir. Simple enough right?

Separate in 24 muffin wells – sprinkle walnut pieces on top (if desired). I also add dried cranberries on half for the health nuts in the family.

Remove topping from fridge and spread across each muffin surface

Bake 20 – I always use a tooth-pick to make sure they are well cooked. Let cool, and enjoy!

For those who have more of a sweet tooth, check out this maple cream cheese icing by Martha Stewart that you could spread on top!

http://www.marthastewart.com/317364/maple-cream-cheese-frosting