Iced Pumpkin Spice Lattes
October starts tomorrow so WELCOME TO PUMPKIN SEASON BABY. Ehhhh who am I kidding, every day of the year is pumpkin season in my heart, mind, and belly.
Now, don’t get upset that this is a recipe for lattes but there is absolutely no coffee anywhere in sight. It’s no mistake. But I detest coffee in any form, and this is my food blog after all, so I can do what I want here. If you’re a coffee lover like almost everyone else on the planet, you know what I think you should do here? Toss some coffee in your blender along with the rest of these ingredients and make yourself a more traditional PSL! No need to mourn the lack of coffee here if you’re a coffee lover. Just add it and you’ll be good to go, promise.
You know what was real weird this year? The Big E. If you don’t live in New England, the Big E is a giant fair that goes on for two weeks straight. It’s a big celebration of New England, and there is a large building for each of the six New England states with vendors from each of the states inside. There’s also a huge area with rides and carnival games, two big buildings with lots of places to shop inside, agricultural attractions, about a million food vendors, and normal fair competitions like quilts and photographs and about a million other categories. I dragged Mike last Monday night under the promise that I would buy him a blueberry pie from the Maine building. He is addicted to those pies, made from those cute little wild Maine blueberries. Well when we arrived at the Big E he made a beeline for that corner of the Maine building to find…a shuttered blueberry pie booth. I felt SO sad for him. The Maine building was a bust overall because I walked by it at 8:00 pm later that night wanting a baked potato and it was CLOSED and completely dark! The state buildings are open until 9:00 pm but Maine is lame and decided to close at least a full HOUR early apparently. So yeah. If you’re in New England and thinking about going to the Big E this year…maybe skip it. And not just because of the Maine building. There were a ton of empty spaces in all of the state buildings this year. All of the food vendors were considerably more expensive this year. Portions were small and the food wasn’t fabulous. And the vibe was off. A lot of people were walking around seemingly dazed and confused with masks hanging off their faces. It’s usually so crowded, but last week was dead. I know it was a Monday night, but I’m usually there on a Monday and it’s usually packed. But last week we joked we could see tumbleweeds blowing around the fairgrounds. Maybe next year it will be back to normal. Heh, heh…
When I made this recipe my initial thought was that it was a total bust. Maybe it’s just the coconut milk I used (Trader Joe’s is my go to because there are no weird gums in it), but when I blended this and took a look inside my blender all I could see was pulp. SO MUCH COCONUT PULP. And then I realized…hello, you have a fine mesh strainer for a reason. And this is the reason. You may not need to do this if your PSL’s don’t look overly pulpy. But if they do, that’s how you fix it!
YAY PUMPKIN SEASON!
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Add all of the ingredients with the exception of the ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks to a high speed blender. Blend for 30-45 seconds until combined and a little bit frothy. If your blender has a "smoothie" function, use it.
- Set up a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl, preferably one with a spout. Pour the blender mixture into the strainer and let it strain into the bowl.
- Fill two rocks-sized glasses with ice cubes. Distribute the liquid into the glasses. Garnish, if desired, with some ground cinnamon and a cinnamon stick. Serve immediately and enjoy!
