Every morning, when my alarm clock chirps at 6:00 o’clock, several things run through my head.

1. Ugh. Must I?

2. Come on, daylight savings time, I’m ready to take you under my wing. Don’t be afraid; we’ll face the ugly, imminent, winter together…

3. Ok, seriously. It’s 6:00 a.m.

4. …but I don’t want to go to school today, mommy.

Then, at 6:10, when my alarm, more forcefully, insists that I get my lazy derriere out of bed, I have but one thought on my mind.

Coffee.

More recently, the beautiful promise of a pumpkin spice latte has put a (half) skip in my morning step.

The kind of half-hearted skip that makes the people around you wonder if you’re fit to even be attempting such coordinated maneuvers whilst it is still dark outside and sleep is, both literally and figuratively, still clouding your vision.

This pumpkin spice syrup makes all of the morning wake-up trauma worthwhile. The frothy pumpkin latte that is bred from its syrupy womb will wash all of your sorrows away.

Pure delight.

At a fraction of the Starbucky-cost.

Pumpkin Spice (Syrup) Lattes

Adapted from Bakergirl

Ingredients
1/3 cup pumpkin puree (fresh(!) or canned)
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups water
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally to keep syrup from burning.

2. Let mixture cook together until it becomes syrupy and begins to coat the spoon (for about 10-15 minutes), then remove from heat. Strain into a heat-proof container.
3. Refrigerate. The syrup will thicken a bit in the refrigerator (read: gloopy), but will become syrupy again when heated.

To assemble a delicious homemade latte:
1. For a sweeter latte, heat a ratio of ~2: or 3:1 milk (I use organic 1%) to syrup in a saucepan until warm. If you’d like it less sweet, somewhere closer 4:1 milk to syrup. To be honest, I usually just eyeball it.
2. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend for 20 seconds.
3. Pour yourself a cup of steaming hot coffee (leaving more room than you might normally) and top with the frothy milk.