It’s September and you know what that means! Pumpkin Spice Mania is here!
This is the time of year that I make the every-other-day trip to Starbucks for a Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte…like the good assimilated upper middle class white chick that I am. However, I can’t do that this year.
If you follow me on Instagram you know that in July I started experimenting with a ketogenic diet. In August I went full 100% Keto. And I’m in love with it. I lost 13lbs in the first full month of Keto. I’ve been stuck on a plateau with my weight loss for months and Keto finally broke that.
For a little while I thought “Well, Pumpkin Spice Season, I have to at least have a couple Starbucks lattes!” But I don’t want to knock myself out of ketosis. I got into ketosis in the first week of doing it and I would imagine it would take more time to get back into if I fell out if {I’m not Keto expert, I’m learning as I go but I’ve learned a good bit so far.}
I don’t have cravings for anything out of my usual Keto eating. The things I’m supposed to eat on Keto are the foods that on traditional diets you’re told not to eat; meat, cheese, butter…cheesecake, bitches! Crustless cheesecake for days!!! And I’m still losing weight.
And I got my period back after a number of years of not really having it.
So it’s been great for my health but not so great for pumpkin spice season.
The only thing I ever crave are holiday foods. I’ve been planning and preparing for Thanksgiving and have easily found Keto friends substitutions and hacks for my usual menu. But not so much with my lattes!
Until yesterday, at least. Yesterday I played around in the kitchen and came up several great recipes that are making my Keto pumpkin spice dreams come true!
So I’d like to share with you two recipes for your sugar free and keto friendly fall dreams.
Pumpkin Spice Syrup and Pumpkin Spice Whipped Cream.
I will also throw in that I make my homemade pumpkin spice lattes with Starbucks Pumpkin Spice ground coffee but you can naturally use any coffee {or even tea} that you love. Just remember that you want to look for flavored coffee beans or grounds and not pumpkin spice latte mix. The latte mix has sugar and flavoring in it and that’s not what we want.
Here we go!
This isn’t just for your coffee either! You can use it on ice cream, to blend in cream cheese to make pumpkin cheesecake bites…really it’s endless. Anything you would use flavored syrup for, you can use this for.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Organic Pumpkin Puree
- 1/2 cup Swerve, Stevia, or Erythritol {I used granular Swerve for this}
- 1 tsp Organic Vanilla Extract {do not use imitation vanilla!}
- 1 cup Filtered Water
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 – 1 1/2 tsp Pumpkin Spice {do this to your taste preference}
- 1 – 2 pinches Salt {use very fine sea salt or Himalayan Pink Salt}
This is where things get super easy. Put it all in a pan, bring it to a boil, and then lower the heat and let it simmer until it get thick. Stir it occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the bottom but don’t over stir. If you stir it too much it will take a long time to thicken. You want some of the water to boil off too, so letting it sit allows that water to raise up and evaporate. You’ll know it’s time to take it off the heat when the bubbles start to rise slowly and appear very thick.
Take the syrup and while it’s still hot pour into a jar or other heatproof storage container. If you wait to remove it from the pan it’s going to be a pain. Let it sit out at room temperature to cool.
Once cooled you might notice a layer of clear liquid on the surface of the syrup. This is water that didn’t cook into the syrup. You can use a spoon to remove it. If you stir it in you’ll only find this right back at the top of the syrup later, so just remove it otherwise it will make you nuts.
This makes around 1 – 1 1/2 cups or so of syrup. I used too much water in mine so the final measurement was a little off. I use 1 tablespoon servings which gave me the following macros {this is just for reference, your exact macros will vary}:
Per Serving:
Calories: 1
Fat: 0g
Protein: 0g
Total Carbs: 4g
Net Carbs: 1g
And now the most important part, the pumpkin spice whipped cream!!!
This is no big secret recipe because it’s literally on the side of the bag of Starbucks Pumpkin Spice coffee. I’ve just modified it to make it Keto.
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar substitute like powdered Swerve {tip at the bottom}
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg {I actually used 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice instead}
- Pinch of salt
Again, super easy. Put it all in a bowl and use a mixer to whip into soft peaks. This makes 2 cups of whipped cream. The macros will literally just depend on your heavy cream. I use two tablespoons per serving. I used Lucerne Heavy Whipping Cream so for me this came to:
Per Serving:
Calories: 100
Fat: 10g
Protein: 0g
Total Carbs: 2g
Net Carbs: 2g
TIP: If you don’t have powdered/confectioners sugar substitute you can just take your granulated “sugar” and put it in a coffee grinder and pulse until it turns to a fine powder. I did this with Swerve and it worked out perfectly. I don’t feel the need to keep powdered sugar substitute on hand because I use it so infrequently but this works perfect.
The Total Latte Experience…
I brew roughly 16 ounces of Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Ground Coffee {I use a Keurig and its getting a little old so it’s not as exact as it once was}. Then I use a Secura Milk Frother to warm and froth 1/4 cup half and half with 1 tbsp of the Pumpkin Spice Syrup. Once frothed I add this to the brewed coffee and top with Pumpkin Spice Whipped Cream.
Per Serving:
Calories: 181
Fat: 16g
Protein: 0g
Total Carbs: 8g
Net Carbs: 5g
Just as a comparison here are the stats on a Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks:
with 2% milk and whipped cream
Per Serving:
Calories: 380
Fat: 14g
Protein: 14g
Total Carbs: 52g
Net Carbs: 52g
So basically a if I were to have one of these from Starbucks that’s 2 1/2 days worth of carbs for me.
This is definitely something I would say is a once a day treat. At 5 Net Carbs it’s not something you want to have three times a day, though it may be tempting!
The only thing that I would suggest for adjustments is to consider your sugar substitute. I find Swerve to be good for this kind of stuff while I prefer Erythritol for baking. I personally find stevia to be too harsh, but use what fits your preference. You can even mix and match a little bit to get a sweetness you prefer.
