Pumpkin Spice Syrup

 Here's a lovely seasonal idea for using up extra pumpkin that you might have left over at home.  Those very expensive spice syrups that you get in your coffee are just so easy to make.  Here's an idea about how to make your own Pumpkin Spice Syrup.  You will need an equal quantity of sugar and water. So start with 1 cup of sugar (you can use brown sugar for additional taste), 1 cup water. Very gently bring the sugar to disolve over a gentle heat then add Cinnamon sticks, cloves, ground ginger and ground nutmeg. These are the traditional spices for pumpkin pie.  I then also added star anise and some vanilla extract.

 Just let it simmer very slowly for about 5 minutes until the spices have infused into the syrup.  I did find that ground spices work better here but you can use whole spices as well.  Add 2 tablespoons of cooked pumpkin puree and very slowly simmer for a few more minutes.

 This will be quite a thick and sticky mixture, but leave it to cool just a little but it must still be hot when you pour it into a jelly bag to strain the syrup out.

 The syrup doesn't come out easily and you will have to squeeze the bag gently to get most of the syrup out.  I don't think you will manage to get it all out, it is quite difficult so be happy with getting just most of it out.

This syrup tastes amazing! Use it to flavour your coffee, pour on pancakes, ice cream, stewed apple, porridge... anything you like. Enjoy!