Alpha Five Tattler
Volume II Edition VI
Thought of the Week!
Midterms Warm-Up! See if you can figure this out!
Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte
I was sitting on the couch the other day while visions of pumpkin muffins, warm chai lattes and falling red leaves danced in my head. “Pumpkin chai lattes!” I exclaimed. “Why haven’t I had one of those?! Do those even exist?!” Sometimes inspiration strikes out of nowhere.
Then I consulted google, as food bloggers do in this situation, and yet again, I wasn’t the first person to come up with this brilliant concept. If you want one right now, you can order one at the Starbucks nearest you.
Regardless, I set out to create my own ideal pumpkin chai latte. I wanted a treat that I could enjoy in the morning (made with regular chai tea) or evening (made with decaffeinated chai rooibos tea). I wanted all that without a bazillion calories—not because I am a calorie counter, but because I don’t like to drink my calories.
Pumpkin spice chai latte made with natural ingredients: pumpkin puree, almond milk, maple syrup and spices. This creamy yet skinny latte clocks in at only 90 calories (without the totally optional coconut cream). Amounts listed below yield one latte so multiple up as necessary. If you want to save some time, I think you could use about ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice instead of the spices listed below. I think you could also make a big batch of this, store it in the refrigerator and rewarm individual drinks on the stove (whisk well to recombine).
Ingredients
Latte
- 1 tea bag of spiced chai (or decaf spiced chai rooibos)
- ½ cup plain, unsweetened almond milk or milk of choice*
- 2 tablespoons real pumpkin purée
- 1 tablespoon real maple syrup or honey
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- Dash nutmeg
- Dash cloves
- Tiny dash salt
- ½ teaspoon arrowroot starch or cornstarch (optional, makes the latte super creamy)
- Optional garnishes: 1 cinnamon stick or star of anise, coconut whipped cream
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, bring ½ cup water to a gentle boil. Remove the water from heat, add the tea bag, and let it steep for 4 minutes. Before removing the tea bag, squeeze any water remaining out by pressing the tea bag against the side of the pan with the back of a spoon.
- Add the almond milk, pumpkin purée, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt to the pan. Whisk in the optional arrowroot starch or cornstarch. Pour the mixture into a stand blender and blend for a minute or two, until the components are blended together and the drink is nice and creamy. (You can alternatively use an immersion blender, but I had much better results with my stand blender.)
- Pour the mixture back into your pan and gently rewarm on the stove, then pour it into a mug. Top with totally optional whipped coconut cream and/or garnish with totally optional cinnamon stick or star of anise.