PSL in cupcake form seems like a good idea…

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcake
Available at: Oh So Sweet by Tiphanie
Cost: $3

Notes: It’s pretty dangerous that I work just a few blocks away from a bakery that has an extensive list of pumpkin items, but I suppose we can just consider it fate that cannot be fought.

Today’s choice? A pumpkin spice latte cupcake.

So, let’s unpack this little beauty, shall we? The cake portion of the cupcake is specifically pumpkin latte flavor – there’s definitely some coffee happening here. And it’s a cake with some heft to it, like a carrot cake kind of thing. The icing is a creamy coffee flavor that would be freaking amazing on chocolate cake as well. And there’s a cute drizzle of caramel on top.

What’s awesome about this cupcake is that it’s not just a pumpkin or pumpkin spice cupcake. It’s pumpkin spice latte. I dig the specificity of it.

The only reason I’m knocking half a pumpkin off of the score is because I can taste the butter in the icing. If there was maybe a bit more sugar in the icing, that would counteract it and make it perfect.

Rating: 🎃🎃🎃🎃- 1/2

Autumnal AF

SmashMallow Pumpkin Pie Marshmallows
Available at: Target
Cost: $4

Notes: Pumpkin fans, I am unlocking new levels of autumnal goodness. This past Sunday, it was cold outside, so I was at home, wearing a hoodie and slippers, pot of chili on the stove, snuggly cats, crocheting, and had a fire going. My coziness was unprecedented, and there were probably people gathered at the windows trying to learn the secrets of hygge from me.

Naturally, I upped the game.

I’ve had a bag of SmashMallow pumpkin pie flavored marshmallows in my cupboard for ages, just meaning to get around to writing about them. And they’re good! Just as promised, they taste like pumpkin pie. Also they’re cut into cubes, so they feel more artisanal in nature. Also it should be noted that SmashMallow makes other flavors, including root beer float, which Jack said were awesome and completely failed to share with me. Also sugar cookie, cinnamon churro, and candy cane, to name a few that sound absolutely amazing.

I’m straying from my point, which is to say that these marshmallows were good, but that I hadn’t been moved to write about them quite yet… and then I decided to spear one of those bad boys and toast it in my fire.

AWWW. YEAH.

The melty goodness and the smoky flavor? Yes, please.

(It should also be noted that I am hoarding some of these to put in white hot chocolate at some point.)

(And further noted that you should NOT BE FOOLED by Jet-Puffed Jumbo Pumpkin Mallows, which were a lie. Jet-Puffed DOES have a pumpkin spice version, but I haven’t tried them. yet.)

Rating: 🎃🎃🎃🎃

A Deal with the Devil

Potosi Stingy Jack Pumpkin Ale
Available at: I found it at Old Chicago
Cost: I think it was $4 or $5?

Notes: After I drank this beer, I did a quick Google search and learned that the name Stingy Jack comes from an old legend about a man named Jack who, among other things, tricked the devil into paying his bar tab. I think we can all agree that this is a hero we can get behind.

This is also a pumpkin beer we can get behind. It’s malty, with cinnamon and clove flavors. Delicious. Highly recommend, even if you have to pay your own bar tab.

Rating: 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

Shut up and take my money

Pumpkin Spiced Almonds
Available at: Aldi
Cost: Shut up and take my money

Notes: Let’s get this out of the way: these things are unbelievably good. See how the bag in my picture is mauled and basically empty? This is my second bag. The first one was so good that I was too focused on eating the almonds to actually take a picture… which was no problem at all because I was more than happy to buy and eat another bag.

Also, I’m honestly not sure how much they cost. The first time I bought them, I think I paid between $3-4. But when I went to replenish my supply, they were something like $5-6. Honestly, whatever. It’s a good sized back of pumpkin spiced awesome, so either price is fair to me.

Did you want more detail about the almonds? Each one is coated in a pumpkin spice dust which adheres to the almonds through some kind of magic (or maybe oil – I don’t know). The spice is heavy on the cinnamon, which keeps them from being too sweet. Also sometimes two almonds will stick together, which feels like winning.

Rating: 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

Great Pumpkin

Til the Cows Come Home Pump and Circumstance Ice Cream
Available at: I found it at Hy-Vee
Cost: $4-ish for a pint

Notes: My weakness for ice cream is well documented here. And so, when I saw another pumpkin ice cream in the freezer case, I was interested, but didn’t immediately put it in my cart. I probably spent a solid four seconds deliberating whether or not I should purchase it.

This ice cream, with its cutesy word play name? I can confidently say that it is the best nationally available pumpkin ice cream I have tried so far.

One bite made it clear to me that the pint was going to a single serving. The pumpkin ice cream itself was smooth, rich, and flavorful. But friends, that “cinnamon graham ribbon” is swoon-worthy.

This is a premium ice cream, like Ben and Jerry’s or Haagen-Daz, with a matching price tag, but as a treat, is completely worth the cost.

Rating: 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

Mind. Blown.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pie
Available at: Oh So Sweet by Tiphanie
Cost: $3

Notes: After a virtuous lunch of salad, I decided that I needed a treat. I walked to Oh So Sweet by Tiphanie, figuring they’d probably have pumpkin cupcakes.

They did.

They had pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin spice latte cupcakes, pumpkin scones, pumpkin bars, pumpkin whoopie pies, and sugar cookies shaped like pumpkin spice lattes.

I asked the cashier if I should get a pumpkin spice latte cupcake or a whoopie pie. She unhesitatingly recommended the whoopie pie – and suggested that I buy two. Considering that this thing is enormous, I resisted.

That might have been a mistake.

What we have here are two big soft pumpkin cookies, with a generous helping of cinnamon cream icing in between them. I’m eating it as I write this and I am a little bit sad that my treat is almost finished. Do I love it more than I love my family? I guess not?

Rating: 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

Oh, pretty!

Pumpkin Spice Macaron
Available at: Oh So Sweet by Tiphanie
Cost: It was a gift!

Notes: I returned to my desk after lunch one day to find a surprise gift on my desk – this pumpkin spice macaron, fetchingly packaged in this cute polka dot bag.

Look at it,folks. It’s just so pretty! The perfect fluffy little cookies, the perfect creme filling, and the bag itself… but don’t worry. “Too pretty to eat” is not in my vocabulary.

Delicate, light, pumpkin meringue. Cinnamon flecked filling.

Honestly, it tasted as pretty as it looked.

Rating: 🎃🎃🎃🎃

Who do you think you’re fooling?

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin
Available at: Coffee Envie
Cost: $2

Notes: There was a time in my life during which I ate Starbucks maple scones approximately four times a week. And I was like, “Oh, tee hee! I guess these aren’t really healthy! Whoopsie!”

And then I had a moment of reckoning in which I realized that I weighed one million pounds and had no money. It turns out that “four times a week” is not “in moderation.”

So, we all know that breakfast pastries, like this awesome looking pumpkin cream cheese muffin from Coffee Envie are not exactly, you know… a salad. When I grabbed this bad boy, I knew it was a treat.

But even knowing that?

Day-um.

Technically, it was a muffin, but honestly, it was a cupcake without the icing. And if we’re being really honest (at this point, I think we are), if someone had smeared some cream cheese icing on this, it would have been killer.

Rating: 🎃🎃🎃🎃

Where’s the Beef?

Pumpkin Spice Latte
Available At: Coffee Envie
Cost: $4

Notes: My fellow children of the ’80s can remember the commercial well. A group of old women crowded around a hamburger and peered at it closely.

It’s a big bun.
It’s a very big bun.
Great big fluffy… bun
WHERE’S THE BEEF?

You probably have an inkling as to why this commercial came to mind as I tried Coffee Envie’s pumpkin spice latte. It was a good latte. Perfect balance between steamed milk and espresso.

But…

Where was the pumpkin spice flavor?

I swirled it around in my cup. Still nothing.
Stirred it. Same question.

Look, I like Coffee Envie a lot. It’s a cool spot, and I like their coffee and sandwiches and pastries. But this PSL was not up to par. Get their other stuff instead.

Rating: 🎃