Pumpkin Spice Syrup

I like a Pumpkin Spice Latte as much as the next girl, but I've never felt the urge to rush out and buy them the second they release them (Which happened to be in AUGUST?! Can't we finish one season before we start the next? Do we always have to be so rushed to "get on top of the next thing?" Do we really have to have Christmas items on the shelf in JULY?!? End rant.)  I also never felt the need to recreate the sweet treat at home. (I save those extra calories for special occasions like spending too much money at Target. See how that works- Excess with excess?) That was before I was growing my own pumpkins. I ended up with an early harvest of pumpkins this year that I baked up and pureed to use for baking later this year. The thing with baking pumpkins (you can read more about that here) is you have to let the puree drain for nothing short of an eternity to end up with the right consistency for baking. While I was waiting for my pumpkin to drain, sipping a cup of coffee, the idea hit me: why not use all that pumpkin-y goodness that I drain off to make my own syrup for my coffee? (or anything else I can think of to put it on for that matter.) So that is what I did. I took all that lovely, golden colored juice and I heated it in a pan with sugar to create a simple syrup and I added some pumpkin pie spice to make it especially tasty. Heaven in a cup I tell ya! But I only had two cups because it's not fall and I plan on savoring the last days of summer!  Oh but in a couple of weeks... there will be so much pumpkin! So. Much. Pumpkin.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

Ingredients: (makes approximately 2 1/2 cups)

2 cups of juice from pumpkin puree 

2 cups sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Heat all ingredients in saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let sit for ten minutes. Pour syrup through a fine mesh strainer and store in tight sealing container in fridge. 

Don't have pumpkin pie spice? Make your own!

Pumpkin Pie Spice (2 tbs)

1 TBS cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

3/4 tsp all spice 

Also, I realize that not everyone is baking pumpkins and holding onto pumpkin juices. If you do bake pumpkins, this gives you a way to use those juices so you don't have to dump them down the drain! If you don't, I consulted the internet and discovered that my idea was less original than I thought and others have done similar things. Using water rather than juices, adding 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree and using similar spices they made their version which means you don't have to bake a pumpkin to make this treat. (I refuse to believe it is a pumpkin-y as this version though!)

Shared at Homemade Mondays