Spiced Pumpkin Caramel Sauce
Perfect for lattes or cold brew coffees (and dessert, too!)
If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I love a good fancy latte.
Like, I really love a good fancy latte.
So much so that when I travel (RIP travel 🥴), cafés are the first thing I look for and put on my itinerary, or rather my list of spots I want to visit. I’m not that organized to have an itinerary when I travel, it’s more so a wish list.
Delicious lattes are also something I love indulging in right at home. They’re easier to make than you’d think. The key is to have a good simple syrup or sauce to spice up your drink. Not like literal spice (though if you haven’t had a latte with habanero sugar yet, you are truly missing out – shout out to Perc here in Atlanta), more so jazzing it up to make it extra special.
Some of my favorite ways to jazz up a latte are:
- Brown sugar simple syrup
- Rosemary simple syrup
- Maple syrup (SO good with a sprinkle of cinnamon)
And now, this Spiced Pumpkin Caramel Sauce.
It’s SO DANG GOOD.
And you’ll want to have it on hand to use in coffees, in desserts, and probably even in a cocktail. Who knows, go wild, y’all! It may sound odd, though I bet this one would be good in an eggnog cocktail of sorts. Throw in a splash of bourbon and wow you’re done, such an easy winter cocktail. Or if you’re looking for something for the morning, throw it in with some Slingshot Coffee – it’s divine.
Okay, enough talking about it. Let’s get to making it.
Spiced Pumpkin Caramel Sauce
For this caramel sauce, I used Dorothy’s recipe and made a few very minor tweaks based on my preferences. Overall, I highly recommend reading her instructions – particularly when she mentions making sure you’re paying attention the WHOLE time you’re cooking.
Like seriously, don’t walk away. Don’t let it just sit on its own for a few minutes, because that’s when it burns. And then it’s a major mess and sooo sticky and annoying to clean up. And, then you have to start all over – if you even have it in you.
Like Dorothy says, making caramel isn’t too scary or difficult, it’s just…finicky. You need to be extra cautious to not let it burn.
So, have all of your ingredients measured out and within arm’s reach – it’ll make cooking the Spiced Pumpkin Caramel Sauce much easier. Let’s get to it!
Here are the ingredients you’ll need – you’ll see that I added some heat here and upped some of the ingredients (like the vanilla extract and spices). And, I’ll link her recipe below rather than copying it here, I’d suggest heading over there to read through her tips and tricks for making sure you end up with a delicious Spiced Pumpkin Caramel Sauce.
Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter sliced into tablespoons
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon ancho chile powder
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
For the instructions, head on over to Dorothy’s recipe!
One thing I want to be sure to mention though, especially if you’re using this sauce in an iced coffee – microwave it first! Heat it up so that it’s not so…solid. Even just 10ish seconds should bring it right back down to its liquidy form if you’re only using a smidge (think 1-4 tablespoons).
Now, go off and enjoy! This one’s a real good one and I’ve got a great feeling that you’re going to love it.
ps. It magically tastes even better with some Slingshot 😉
*Recipe adapted from Crazy for Crust
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