Cozy drink season is finally here!!
One of my most favorite things to do as soon as fall arrives, is sit outside in the cool morning air and sip a warm drink while the world wakes up. Unlike most people, I have no strong allegiances to any one particular morning drink; instead, I love them all. Bittersweet hot chocolate, a steaming mug of earl grey, frothy chai lattes, matcha with milk and honey, and coffee in just about all of its iterations might sound good to me on any given day.
This fall I contributed recipes for three of my favorite cozy fall lattes to the Simple Living Collection, to easily make fancy, expensive coffee shop drinks right in your own kitchen. The Simple Living Collection is a digital magazine for people looking to slow down and embrace the seasons. For this edition the theme is “use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without”, and it’s full of tutorials, crafts, how-tos, and recipes for making the most out of the season without breaking the bank.
The magazine is over 150 pages long, with ideas ranging from using kitchen scraps to make homemade apple cider vinegar, broths, and cleaning products, to cost-effective soups, pies, and bread, saving seeds from your garden, mending and upgrading torn clothing and hosting a clothing swap- there is so much goodness packed into this magazine! It’s truly perfect for anyone looking to live a little more simply this fall and beyond.
The three drinks I shared recipes for are:
pumpkin chai latte
This is basically the homemade pumpkin spice latte of my dreams. A combination of pumpkin, maple syrup, and spices are cooked together on the stove to form a thick concentrated sauce that’s absolutely perfect for stirring into coffee or tea. You can make it a true chai latte with black tea, or add it to your coffee with some frothed milk for the coziest coffee shop copycat pumpkin spice latte at home.
caramel apple latte
There’s also a caramel apple latte, made by reducing apple cider into a thick syrup that adds the perfect level of sweetness and apple-y tang to coffee (think drinking a cup of coffee with a slice of apple pie!). This one makes a great kids drink option, too, if you just stir a little into warm milk!
golden hot chocolate
I consider October through April to officially be Hot Chocolate Season, so I couldn’t share my favorite cold weather drink recipes without including this one! Unlike most hot chocolate mixes, which are powdered, this one is essentially a homemade chocolate sauce. No powder = no clumps!! So, when you’re ready to make a hot chocolate, you just stir a spoonful of the chocolate sauce into hot water and top with cream, or stir into hot milk. This version is a little spicy and special with the addition of turmeric, ginger, cinnamon and black pepper (think golden milk meets hot chocolate) but you can totally leave the spices out for a classic hot choc vibe if you want!
If these drink recipes sound like ones you’d enjoy, I highly recommend buying a copy of the Simple Living Collection! It’s just $16.50 and only on sale until next Monday 10/10. I deeply appreciate you supporting my work!!
This magazine is truly just a great resource to keep in your files, so I’d highly recommend buying it even if I didn’t have an article in it this fall! I currently have a batch of homeade apple cider vinegar brewing on the counter from the tutorial in there, and have my eye on making a ginger bug next (apparently its like a fermented ginger soda?!). The clothes mending articles actually might be some of my favorites- imagine stitching a tiny little mushroom over a hole in your shirt, or a fun animal over the ripped knee of your kids’ pants? So cute, and such a great way to get the most out of clothing.
Let me know if you buy it, and what you think! I very rarely ever try to sell you anything here, so please know this one comes straight from my heart.