Pumpkin Spice Syrup

I am a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte fiend!! When I got the e-mail this year that they were coming back I made sure to plan a trip to town and swing by Starbucks to get one. Even though it was hot and I usually drink iced lattes, I could not resist the allure of the PSL. Now it had been a while since I had gotten anything at Starbucks and it was a nice treat but it only served to drive the urges. I have had three PSLs since they came back earlier this month. Luckily I had birthday money to spend. A couple years ago I bought myself a Mr. Coffee Espresso Maker with some money I got for Christmas and I started to make my own lattes and caramel macchiatos at home. I buy the Torani syrups at the grocery store and it's great. Every once in a while I buy a syrup at Starbucks. One day a couple weeks ago I was googling for recipes for the base Starbucks uses for the PSL and I came across this recipe. I decided as soon as I found some pumpkin and some time I would give it a try. Yesterday was the day!
The Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups water
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 Tbsp pumpkin puree
1 small (8-10 ounce) bottle

Simmer together water and sugar in a saucepan until sugar is dissolved.

Measure out the pumpkin and spices while you wait.

Add the pumpkin and spices to the sugar water and simmer 6 to 8 minutes.

Strain mixture, if desired and once it cools, pour into container. Store in the refrigerator.

Fast forward to this morning and I am ready for my first attempt at the homemade PSL!!
The Ingredients:

Milk
ground espresso
pumpkin spice syrup
water

Start the espresso brewing in your machine. While you wait, add some pumpkin spice syrup to a coffee cup.

Once the espresso begins to brew and reaches the correct level...

...switch over to steam for frothing the milk.

When the milk is finished, switch back to brewing and add some of the steamed milk to the pumpkin syrup in your cup. Stir it up.

When the espresso finishes brewing add your shot(s) and then fill your cup with milk and froth.

This turned out okay. It is a little cinnamon-heavy for me though. I think I will make it with more pumpkin and less cinnamon in the future. In the meantime I may try to make another batch without any cinnamon and mix the two together. Also, I don't know why but  this is very gelatinous (for lack of a better word). It mixed okay with the hot milk though. I think maybe I cooked the sugar water too long. It doesn't seem to have hurt the flavor though.
If I do go back and make a modified version I will post the results here. In the meantime, the latte goes really well with a couple of these:

**UPDATE**

I made another syrup base using 3/4 cup water and 3/4 cup sugar with 2 Tbsp pumpkin and added that to the previous batch. It's not as thick now and I will see how it tastes next time I make a PSL. I also found and made this recipe and I will let you know how it tests as well!

**FURTHER UPDATE**

So I made myself a PSL this morning using the second recipe (link above) and it was very good. One of the problems I have run into is the chunks of spice and pumpkin floating around in my drink. I'm not a fan of chunks! The syrup itself proved too thick to strain, but I have had success straining my drink once it is made. I also found I need to add sugar to my drink for it to have the correct sweetness for me, again a personal preference not a fault of the recipes.

The next time I make it I think I will make more of an infusion by adding the pumpkin and spices to the water and bringing to a low boil/simmer. Then I will strain that mixture and add the sugar to make it a syrup. If/when I do that, I will update again. Happy Fall!!