how to make a *perfect* *homemade* skinny vanilla latté
homemade heaven
hot + steamy
Maybe you're like me, a recovering Starbuxxx junkie, who bought an espresso machine to save money and quit your $20 a day habit. Maybe you're a coffee connoisseur, or a barista yourself, and make a better coffee than you can buy anywhere. Maybe you hate to walk down the street to get your morning fix, you'd rather have it at home.
WELL, here's how to make the PERFECT homemade "skinny vanilla latté," a non-fat, sugar-free vanila latté, my favourite Starbucks pick.
Step 1) Pick your brew. The grocery store has quite a crop of coffee varieties to choose from. So what do you put in your cup? I go with the Starbucks espresso blend. But don't buy the ground beans- they are ground for a drip coffee maker. Buy the whole beans and grind them at home (before each cup- best way to go) or in the grinder at the store. Grind you beans VERY fine, the finest setting on the grinder yields the strongest cup of espresso.
Step 2) Pick your syrup, milk, etc. I go with sugar-free Torani syrup. You can buy Starbucks syrup at their stores, or a different sort of syrup (DO NOT BUY DAVINCI), but I've always preferred Torani. It's only $7 a bottle at Kroger stores. I use nonfat soy milk for my latté, but you can use nonfat organic milk, nonfat whatever milk, or if you don't want a "skinny" latte, use whatever milk strikes your fancy.
Step 3) Brew you joe, steam your milk. Fill your espresso machine with water, load the espresso basket, and clean off your milk steamer. When your milk is ready to steam, start with the steamer on low in the middle of your cup. Raise the wand until it's just under the surface of your milk and turn it up to create a lot of foam. (Lattes usually have just a few spoonfuls of foam on top, but if you want a cappuccino it's 1 part milk, 1 part foam, and 1 part espresso.)
Step 4) Load your glass. Use a shot glass to measure syrup and espresso. Put a half-shot to a shot of syrup at the bottom of your cup, depending on taste, to sweeten your outlook. Put however many shots of espresso next (1 prefer three, a triple, but you can do a single, double, or quad depending on your taste/ tolerance). Pour the milk on top, using a spoon to keep the foam in the steaming tin, and then after stirring spoon it on top. Add whip if you'd like, and spices/ sprinkles (vanilla or cinnimon or cocoa sprinkles--- NOT ICE CREAM SPRINKLE!!!) on top to taste, but remember there are 10 calories per tablespoon of storebought whip and MUCH MORE in Starbucks whip cream!