DIY Pumpkin Spiced Latte

Everyone is going nuts for the Pumpkin Spiced Latte at Starbucks at the moment. Something about it just screams "Fall" to me and it helps make the tranition from tha last days of summer into cooler weather a little more bearable. But as much as I love it, I almost never order one at Starbucks – a tall costs nearly 5 euros and while I couldn't find the actual ingredients listed online, I'm pretty sure that it's full of additives and corn syrup... Since we always have pumpkin in the house (thanks to in-laws with an amazing veggie garden + a pumpkin-loving baby) it seemed like the perfect opportunity to make my own. I loosely based my recipe on a version found over at A Beautiful Mess

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 teaspoon gingerbread spice (although if you have pumpkin pie spices, they would work here too)
• a couple cloves
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree

Combine all the ingredients in a small pot on the stove and whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Continue stirring over a low heat for around 5 minutes, not letting the syrup boil. Strain the syrup and store in an air-tight container in the fridge. To serve I add 1 tablespoon to my espresso before I add the steamed milk to my cappuccino. If you like your coffee on the sweeter side, add another tablespoon. (It's important not to let the mixture boil, I ignored this step in my first batch and the syrup was much too thick, making it difficult to strain afterwards...)

The hardest part has been not drinking three of these in a day, definitely much more tempting knowing that the syrup is sitting in my fridge! 

Cooking the Internet #2 | Grape Jelly

One of obvious perks about having a father-in-law that's a hobby wine-maker is the free wine... Another is the grapes. Grape season is in full force over here and we've been innundated with this year's crop. Faced with more grapes than we could ever possibly eat ourselves, it only seemed fitting that I use them for my first foray into jam-making.

This recipe is also one of those classic what-on-earth-did-we-do-before-the-internet moments. The process of looking at the grapes, thinking about jam, googling a recipe and starting the juice extraction process was about 5 mins... I can hardly even remember what I would have done before – gone to the library? Or more likely the grapes would have gone mouldy before we could eat them all and they would have ended up in the bin. So hooray for the internet!

It's a two-day process and the finally jam is a bit on the sweet side, but slathered on whole wheat bread with cold butter it's delicious. Jam-making was so much easier than I expected that I'll definitely be making it again (and I don't know why I was so nervous about making my own jam...) Paired with homemade almond butter it would also make a cute housewarming gift.

• 1kg red grapes, preferable with seeds (stripped from the stalks) I used mixture of white and red since that's what I had on hand
• 450g 2:1 jam sugar
• juice of 2 lemons

1. Tip the grapes into a large saucepan set over a low heat, then cover and leave to gently cook for 5 mins until the juices start to run. Take a potato masher and mash up the grapes. Leave to cook for about 10 mins more, mashing every now and again until the grapes are falling apart. Place a clean tea towel in a sieve set over a bowl, then pour the grape mixture into this. Let the mixture drip through overnight. 
2. Measure out the juice (you should have about 600ml) and pour it into a pan along with the sugar and lemon juice. Set the pan over a high heat and bring to the boil. Let the mixture bubble for around 7 minutes. Put a small plate in the freezer for 5 mins, then pour a little of the juice onto the cold saucer. After 1 min, run your finger through; if the jam wrinkles slightly, it’s ready. Pour the hot jam into a sterilised jar. Will keep unopened for up to 3 months.

 Adapted slightly from the recipe found here.
 

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

I started this post off by editing video of our Picnic in Prater last weekend. It was supposed to be an ode to the Indian Summer. Then it started raining, and I had to swap my sandals for boots... So I made pumpkin soup instead, which really isn't the worst day way to spend a rainy afternoon.

I make variations of this soup, sometimes with Thai curry paste and coconut milk and sometimes with butter and lots of thyme.

• 1 medium pumpkin (I use Hokkaido) cut into slices
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 8 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Lay the pumpkin slices together with the garlic cloves (whole with the skin on) on a baking tray and drizzle witht the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place them in a 200°C degree oven for around 35 minutes until they are soft and browned. Remove from the oven and squeeze the roasted garlic into a pan, along with the pumpkin. Top with 1L hot water (or stock if you prefer). Using a blender or hand mixer, liquidise in batches until completely smooth. Add the cumin and cinnamon and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Enjoy while searching online for the perfect fall coat...

Cooking the Internet #1 | Tomato Tartin

Although I love my cookbooks, more often than not I end up searching the web for new recipes. This is an attempt to document the process and excellent motivation for me to try new dishes.

The first in this series comes from Design*Sponge via a new-to-me duo called Whip + Click. I stumbled across this recipe at just the right time, with the nearly 2 kilos of tomatoes from my mother-in-law’s garden calling out to be used for something other than a tomato sauce. While this tart definitely made a nice dent in the supply, I’m looking forward to having beefsteak tomato and chedder sandwiches (my favourite!) for lunch for the next few days. The tart has the added bonus of helping me to slowly conquer my fear of pastry crust. This one turned out gorgeously, and paired with near-melting tomatoes that benefit from nearly an hour in the oven the only downside is that our tomato season is drawing to a close… Get the recipe here