Pumpkin Spice Latte Waffles

By a show of hands, who feels extra nesty once fall hits? I certainly do! That means lazy days bumming around our house in Brooklyn—chunky sweaters, cozy socks and lots of coffee breaks.

Admittedly, I’m not a Starbucks girl. But I do get psyched about making new Pumpkin Spice Latte creations each year (like this swanky cheesecake and this copycat recipe). This fall, I’m taking the sweet-spiced flavor combo to a whole new place..waffle town! That’s right.

With only five ingredients, you can whip up these warm, fluffy waffles in no time. They’re perfect for at-home brunching because they’re incredible easy to make (read: you don’t have to be totally awake to totally ace ‘em!) and chances are you already have most of these ingredients in your pantry.

While I don’t often make recipes for a mix, pancake-waffle mix is a lazy-girl staple I always have in my cupboard. You never know! What if you’re hungover and the only cure is a pancake? What if the girls are craving late-night waffle sundaes during movie-night? You get my point!

We actually conducted a huge “Pancake Mix Taste Test” at my job this past year. The winner: Hungry Jack Buttermilk Mix. Those babies come out super buttery, which obviously tastes amazing. The grocery store in our building only had Aunt Jemima’s so that’s what I went with this morning. During out test, we found that this mix yielded the sweetest pancakes/waffles—that’s AMAZING when it comes to these #PSL waffles, you want them to be sweet.

Speaking of which, most pumpkin recipes you see here on Freutcake—like Leah’s incredible pumpkin cookies—call for plain pure pumpkin. For these waffles, I went for canned pumpkin pie mix, instead. It already has the sugar and spices mixed in, saving you the trouble of buying/measuring/adding them yourself. Score, girl!

photos by Erin Phraner

If you’re willing to splurge on a few extra ingredients, soft butter and good-quality REAL maple syrup are a given for serving. I hope you try these waffles!

1. 1 cup pancake-waffle mix
2. 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
3. 3/4 cup pumpkin pie filling
4. 1/3 cup maple syrup
5. 1 large egg

1. Preheat the oven to 200˚F.
2. Whisk the waffle mix and instant espresso powder until combined. Add the pumpkin pie filling, maple syrup and egg. Stir with a spatula until just combined—it’s okay if the batter’s a little lumpy!
3. Preheat a waffle iron and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Add one-fourth of the batter and cook until golden brown, then transfer the waffle to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with the remaining batter.