Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Home and Starbucks Gift Card Giveaway

I LOVE Pumpkin Spice Lattes! They are my all time favorite drink. Its probably a good thing that they are only out for a short time each year. So about 7 years ago we moved from the east side of the state to the west side. There were a lot of good changes to this move... : ) However one of the bad things is that there are less Starbucks. We do have one.. buts its in the grocery store, and not necessarily on a direct route to work. Trust me this does not stop me from stopping to get my PSL fix. It did however spur us to try to learn how to make PSL at home. Plus the added bonus for this is that you also don't have to leave your house.

Wake up Saturday morning and you can have PSL in your jamies. Plus you can make them in your favorite coffee mug.  I have a coffee mug collection that I love, because each one has a memory. The one pictured here I got with my high school friend Cathy when we visited Mackinac Island our senior year of high school. This mug has made many a move with me :)

So making PSL at home... brilliant. I was remaking these yesterday for the blog post, and I was AMAZED how good they were. I kind of chided myself for waiting so long this season to make them again.

 

 

 

 

 

So before I lose your attention with the giveaway. I wanted to point out a couple new features on the blog. The first is the pages. I have one that lists all my recipes by their respective theme week. There is also another page that details them out by type. So if you are like I want a cookie... you can just see all the cookie recipes that I have posted on the blog.

The other adder is that I have posted my Shelfari bookshelf. This shows my read book list, and you can see the books that I have been reading. I love seeing books posted on other blogs because it gives me ideas for my next book. The last book I read was The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels--a Love Story

I really enjoyed it. It is the story of how Ree met her husband. It takes place before she started her blog. It is basically just a real life romance. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good romance :)

 

 

 

 

 

Ok ... Drumroll please this is my first giveaway.  My hope is to do one giveaway a month. I have to admit that they will be small giveaways to start out with, but I hope as the blog grows they can get a little bit bigger. So the first giveaway will be for a $10 Starbucks gift card. That way you can get your PSL fix before the fall season leaves us. For details scroll down to the end of the post... but don't forget to read the recipe. It really is amazing how easy it is to make PSL at home.

Ingredients

1 pot of coffee (or 1 cup instant coffee if that is easier)
1 cup milk
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice, plus more for sprinkling on top
whipped cream

Start out by brewing a pot of coffee. You don't need a lot of coffee, so I pick the 1-4 cup option on our coffeemaker. You could also make an instant cup of coffee if that is easier for you to do. This is going to be your caffeine in the drink so plan the strength of the coffee accordingly.

I then take my 1 cup glass measuring cup since its easy to pour, but you could use anything that is microwave safe. Combine your milk, sugar, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice into the measuring cup.  Hit the beverage option on the microwave, and let it do its work warming your drink. If you don't have a beverage option then try 40 seconds check temperature and then adjust.

Once its out of the microwave you have two choices you can either froth it with a frother or you can put it in the blender. Once its been frothed or blended pour it into the mug that you want to drink from. Fill it about 3/4's full. Then fill the rest of the mug with the coffee that you previously made. Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice.

Sip and Enjo
This recipe originally appeared on Laura's Baking Talent.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

One winner will receive a $10 gift card to Starbucks.
US residents only
Winner will be notified by email and they will have 48 hours to respond. If they do not respond a new winner will be selected.

HOW TO ENTER

Log-in into the rafflecopter gadget below. You need to use your email or facebook account.
Important for your first entry you need to leave a blog post comment on this post: Answering the question what is your favorite fall activity? You can even leave the post first and then log in if that is easier :)

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