Elevate your coffee, tea, and desserts with the warm and cozy flavors of pumpkin spice, right from your own kitchen. Its easy to tailor your homemade pumpkin spice half and half to suit your taste preferences, whether you prefer subtle spice or bold flavor.
Fall Indulgences:
When the chill sets in the air, our thoughts turn to falling leaves, cozy sweaters, woodland hikes, and fireside reading. The cooling temps and autumnal colors awaken longings for warmth, comfort and coziness. Pumpkin spice is strongly associated with all of these touchpoints. Its blend of warm spices plug us right into simple fall indulgence. Cinnamon and nutmeg, in particular, contribute to that warm and comforting sensation.
What better time to don a nubby knit, enjoy the crunch of leaves under your boots, and let a pumpkin spice latte warm you through and through?
Caloric Benefits of this Pumpkin Spice Half and Half
To calculate the caloric value of this mixture, we’ll consider the calories of each ingredient, sum them up and divide them into serving portions.
- Half and Half: 8 ounces (1 cup), contains approximately 315-360 calories, depending on the brand/specific product. Let’s assume 340 calories for this calculation.
- Organic Maple Syrup: Three tablespoons contains about 192 calories.
- Organic Pumpkin Puree: Three tablespoons of organic pumpkin puree has approximately 15-20 calories, again, depending on the brand. Let’s assume 18 calories for this calculation.
Total caloric value for an 8 ounce container (1 cup) of home crafted pumpkin spice half and half: 340(half and half) + 192(maple syrup) + 18(pumpkin puree) = 550 calories total per carton.
Now that we have the calories for an entire 8 ounce container of half and half, let’s break it down by serving size:
The number of mugs of coffee you can make with 8 ounces (1 cup) of pumpkin spice half and half depends on how much you like to add to each cup of coffee and the size of the coffee mug you use.
Typically, people add about 1 to 2 tablespoons (0.5 to 1 ounce) of half and half to a standard 8-ounce cup of coffee to achieve the desired level of creaminess. If you use 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) of half and half per cup, you would make approximately 8 cups of coffee with a 1-cup container of half and half.
550 calories of pumpkin spice half and half divided by those 8 mugs of coffee equals:
68.75 calories per mug of coffee.
Compare to Dunkin’ Donuts Pumpkin Small Coffee (10 oz): Approximately 190 calories (without cream or sugar).
Compare to Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte (Tall, 12 oz): Approximately 240-260 calories (with 2% milk and whipped cream).
*Please note that these caloric values are approximate and can vary based type of milk and any customizations made to the purchased coffee. These caloric values are approximate and may have changed since the last published updates.
*Also note that by adding real pumpkin puree and spices to a home crafted pumpkin spice half and half, you may be providing additional nutritional benefits such as vitamins and fiber compared to the commercially prepared syrups used in over-the-counter purchases.
Simple Ingedients and Mixing:
This blend is very simple to put together and amounts can be varied according to your taste and preferences.
- 8 ounce carton of organic half and half
- 3 Tablespoons of organic maple syrup
- 3 Tablespoons of Pumpkin Puree
Pumpkin Spice Blend
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- pinch of ground cloves
- pinch of ground allspice
- pinch of ground black pepper
Place all ingredients in a mason jar with lid and shake until well blended. You can also use a whisk, frother, or blender of your choice. You can’t do it wrong. After you mix up your first batch, you can adjust sweetness and spice mixture to your personal liking. Make it your own!
Lastly, stir your home crafted pumpkin spice half and half into your coffee and enjoy the autumnal vibe!
Other Uses for Pumpkin Spice Half and Half
Below are some inspirational beverage and meal ideas where you might consider adding this pumpkin spice half and half as a seasonal ingredient:
- Hot Chocolates and Spiced Teas
- Smoothies, Iced Coffee, Milk Shakes
- Spiced Martinis
- Oatmeal and Overnight Oats
- Pancakes, Waffles and French Toast
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Mashed Potatoes
- Creamed Spinach
- Pumpkin and Squash Soups
- Whipped Cream and Whipped Butters
- Dessert Sauces
- Puddings
- Ice creams
- Bread Puddings
Enhancements to the Pumpkin Spice Vibe:
I enjoy mixing it up each year and adding little enhancements to seasonal celebrations. I highly recommend adding vanilla extract to the recipe above. If you are interested, click this link for directions to make your own vanilla infusion/extract.
Additionally, what enhances a cup of coffee more than the perfect mug? I adore the one below purchased from Magnolia Market. These mugs are supplied to Magnolia by their creators, Black Oak Art if you’d like to know more about them and how they’re made.
Lastly, for that seasonal pumpkin spice vibe, I like to add scented candles into the mix. This one from Leoben does the job. I like this company as the candles are small-batch poured and are phthalate-free with lead-free cotton wicks. They burn slowly for a long full scent experience.
Hoping you mix up a batch of pumpkin spice half and half, top off the hot coffee in your favorite mug, light a candle and enjoy the season!
I love pumpkin spice in my coffee, and will definitely be making this for all things fall! Yum!
Hi Kathleen,
You are very welcome! I’m so glad you like it; enjoy the season!