by It’s Pumpkin Spice time finally. I have been waiting for this all year! After the brutally hot summer this year, I am looking forward to the cooler days, bringing out the sweaters, and decorating pumpkins. I don’t always put out pumpkins, but I might try my hand at painting new pumpkins this year. Two years in a row I painted Minion pumpkins, and they were very cute. I’m feeling inspired again this year to try a new pumpkin design… I just need to come up with a new idea to try out… 🎃
The cooler days have also made me look forward to buying a pumpkin spice creamer for my morning coffee. Last fall Califia made a unsweetened Pumpkin Spice Creamer that was amazing. I was so disappointed to learn this fall that they have discontinued the unsweetened version. What made this creamer special was that they actually use pumpkin puree in it along with the pumpkin pie spices (cinnamon, nutmeg & cloves). I emailed the company to find out if it was truly discontinued, and sadly it is. I must be in the minority in liking unsweetened creamers… because they still have 2 Pumpkin Spice creamer versions this year with pumpkin puree, but both have cane sugar in them (one has 3 grams of sugar per serving and the other one has 15 grams of sugar per serving). Last year, I did try the one with 3 grams of sugar, but it was just too sweet in coffee for me.
It hit me this morning that I could easily just make my own version of it. I was going to buy an unsweetened vegan creamer to use as the base; however, they are ridiculously expensive this year due to inflation… so I decided I would just use the regular unsweetened almond milk that I already have in my refrigerator from Costco.
If you don’t care about the creamer being thickened, this recipe will work with just regular almond milk (or any vegan milk). I tried it this way first, and thought it was very good just with plain almond milk However, if you want it to be thicker like a traditional coffee creamer, you can either buy a vegan creamer to use as the base, or you can thicken the almond milk with a small amount of Xanthan Gum powder (1/8 teaspoon per 1 cup of almond milk). The nice thing about Xanthan Gum powder is that you don’t have to heat the almond milk in order to get the thickened texture like you would if you used another thickener such as Corn Starch or Arrowroot Powder.
I tried the creamer in a cup of coffee this afternoon, and it tastes remarkably like the Califia unsweetened creamer I had purchased last fall. Yum!
If you do want your creamer to be sweetened, then add 3-4 tablespoons of cane sugar to the mixture, or to taste.
This recipe only uses 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree, so I also made 2 jars of Pumpkin Spice Overnight Oats to use some of the remaining pumpkin. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies are also a great way to use up the extra pumpkin. However, I have a feeling that I will be making a 2nd batch of the Pumpkin Spice creamer in a few days to use up the extra since it turned out so yummy! 😋
Vegan Pumpkin Spicer Creamer
Equipment
- 1 jar with lid (i.e. 16 oz mason jar)
Ingredients
- 1¼ cup Unsweetened Almond Milk (or any nondairy milk) (unsweetened nondairy creamer can also be used)
- ¼ cup canned pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1/8 teaspoon Xanthan Gum powder (omit if using creamer as a base)
- 3 Tablespoons Cane Sugar (OPTIONAL!- I don’t add any sugar to mine)
Instructions
- Add the almond milk, canned pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, and xanthan gum powder to a jar w/ a lid (e.g. pint size mason jar).
- Tighten the lid on the jar and shake until combined (or stir with a whisk).
- Store in the refrigerator. The xanthan gum will thicken the mixture slightly as it sits in the refrigerator for an hour or two.
- Use within a 1 week.
