If you love your morning cup of coffee, autumn is the perfect time to experiment with seasonal flavors. From pumpkin spice to apple pie, preparing fall lattes at home not only helps you save money on daily coffee runs, it also gives you control over the serving size, sweetness, milk type, and toppings. This allows you to tweak the ingredients based on your nutritional needs and preferences while avoiding excess sugar and calories.
Ingredients such as pumpkin puree, unsweetened applesauce, and fresh pear can also lend a natural sweetness while adding flavor and texture. “These ingredients still contribute carbohydrates and naturally occurring sugars, but those sugars are different from added sugars such as maple syrup, honey, molasses, cane sugar, or flavored coffee syrup,” Katz says.
Below are five no-sugar-added fall latte recipes that RDs recommend.
1. No-Added-Sugar Pumpkin Spice Latte
There’s no need to add sugar to a pumpkin spice latte. Katz says this beverage uses real pumpkin instead of a sweetened pumpkin syrup — and provides almost 8 grams (g) of protein, 3.4 g of fiber, 8.9 g of carbs, 4.2 g of fat (0.5 g saturated fat), and only 107 calories. It blends warm flavors like vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves while delivering a caffeine boost. Soy milk brings everything together for a creamy morning treat.
Whisk 1 cup of unsweetened soy milk, 2 tablespoons (tbsp) of plain canned pumpkin, ½ teaspoon (tsp) of pure vanilla extract, ¼ tsp of ground cinnamon, ⅛ tsp of ground ginger, and a pinch of ground nutmeg and cloves in a small saucepan.
Heat the mixture over medium-low heat until it’s smooth and steaming (about 3 to 5 minutes), but be sure not to boil. Remove the mixture from the heat and froth with an immersion blender or handheld frother. Pour two shots of hot espresso into a mug before adding the pumpkin mixture and stirring to combine. If you still need a touch of sweetness, add a few drops of monk fruit sweetener, Katz suggests.
2. Apple Pie Latte
Sipping this latte provides 114 calories, 6.7 g of protein, and 0.8 g of fiber, 2 g of fat (1.1 g saturated fat), and 17.2 g of carbohydrates.
Stir together ¾ cup of unsweetened soy milk, ¼ cup of unsweetened applesauce, ½ tsp of pure vanilla extract, ¼ tsp of ground cinnamon, and a pinch of ground nutmeg and ginger in a small mixing bowl until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a small saucepan and heat over medium-low until steaming (about 3 to 5 minutes).
Then, froth the mixture with an immersion blender or handheld frother before pouring it over two shots of hot espresso. Stir before drinking, as some applesauce may naturally settle.
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