Make the must have holiday coffee house menu item at home. You are going to love this copycat Starbucks chestnut praline latte.
Recently Starbucks came out with a new drink. Apparently, its their first new drink in over 5 years. I heard somewhere that its the pumpkin spice latte of the Christmas season. Which is a tall order to fill because, hello, pumpkin spice latte. I mean its just tradition. So I was skeptical. This chestnut praline latte was not be trusted.
But of course I waited in line and ordered one. I wanted to knowww what it tasted it. Was it full of holiday cheer? Could it dethrone the beloved pumpkin spice latte? Will my kids ever let me go to Starbucks without buying them cake pops ever again? (That last one remains unanswered.)
Starbucks chestnut praline latte
I sipped the new chestnut praline latte and fell in love. It was smooth and sweet with a nutty flavor that reminded me of Christmas morning. It made me smile and I realized it was in fact the PSL of the winter time.
Starbucks describes their new winter drink as espresso with steamed milk, caramelized chestnut flavor, whipped cream and praline crumble. It’s basically the holiday season in a cup. Sounds easy, huh? Of course I immediately wanted to make a copycat version of this new beloved drink.
Good news! I tested two ways to make the chestnut praline latte at home and they are BOTH delicious!
What is in the chestnut praline latte?
If we check the ingredient list from Starbucks website, we see that they list milk, brewed espresso, chestnut praline syrup, whipped cream and praline topping. Those ingredients are pretty basic and make it easy to copy this recipe at home.
There are two ways that you can make this copycat chestnut praline latte – with homemade or store bought syrup. Both work and taste just like the ‘bucks. To make the latte ALL homemade you will need:
- whole chestnuts
- pecans
- sugar, brown and white
- vanilla extract
- water
- espresso or strong coffee
- milk
- whipped cream
If you want to skip making homemade chestnut syrup and sugared pecans, you will need:
- chestnut syrup
- espresso
- milk
- whipped cream
- pecan crumble
It’s totally up to you on how to make this chestnut praline latte. Homemade or semi-homemade. I’m going to talk about my adventure in making it 100 percent from scratch.
How do you make a chestnut praline latte?
The first thing I had to do was find some chestnuts. I checked two stores and found them at my local grocery store. I don’t believe chestnuts are available year round.
I immediately went home, turned on a Christmas Pandora station, and started roasting chestnuts. (In my oven, not an open fire. It was like 75 degrees here.)
You have to score the nuts before you roast them and then carefully pull away the shell to get the “meat”. Once you have that you process it or finely chop it and then make a syrup. To do this you add the chopped chestnuts, water and sugar to a sauce pan. It’s basically a simple syrup plus the chestnuts.
I then praline’d some pecans, similar to my cinnamon sugar version, while the chestnuts were roasting. Those get added to a food processor along with some brown sugar to make the crumble.
Once you have the chestnut syrup and the pecan crumble you can start assembling your latte. Add your syrup to the bottom of a glass or coffee mug. Stir in the hot espresso or strong coffee. Add in your steamed milk. Top with whipped cream and the pecan crumble.
Ta-da! Perfect homemade chestnut praline latte goodness.
What syrup is in the chestnut praline latte?
This is the question I should have asked before I started making syrup from a nut. To make the Starbucks chestnut praline latte you need two syrups:
And for the pecan crumble, something like store bought pecan pralines will work great. Trader Joe’s has a yummy version that would be perfect atop your latte.
But in case you want to DIY your own, the recipe is below. (Ps.. it was good. WAY good. I drank two. But making syrup from a nut and praline-ing pecans is just a lot of work.)
Make this copycat chestnut praline latte at home! Homemade and semi-homemade versions below.
Chestnut Praline Latte
Ingredients
For the syrup
For the praline crumble
Instructions
For the chestnut syrup
For the praline crumble
Assemble the chestnut praline latte
Notes
To make this using store bought syrups and crumble -
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 1604Cholesterol: 23mgSodium: 141mgCarbohydrates: 299gFiber: 7gSugar: 273gProtein: 14g
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Everyday Life Mother and Wife says
This sound really good, but so much work! Glad you enjoyed it at least!
Kelley says
It was a TON of work! It was fun though. haha! Ill be on the look out for chestnut syrup though. 🙂
Alz says
Torani makes a chestnut syrup called Marron. I havent tried it because no one carry’s it locally and i cant justify buying a bottle online for $7.99. Let me know if you (or anyone) gets it and what they think.
Kelley says
I’ll have to keep an eye out for it! Thanks for the heads up.
Ashlyn @ Belle of the Kitchen says
You always speak right to my heart with your Starbucks concoctions, Kelley. So much so, that this gorgeous drink is one of my features at SNF this week. I need this in my life! I think I might leave the “nut work” to you, though. 😉
Kelley says
hahaha! Yea, I need to find the chestnut syrup and it would be so much better. It was fun though. Thanks for the feature!
Nicole says
I just bought the syrup yesterday! Can’t wait to finally try it one of these mornings. I’m obsessed! You can ask your local starbucks if they sell it. It’s over the counter.
Kelley says
Ill for sure have to ask! Making your own is.. nuts. haha 😉
Rebekah says
Found your recipe on Pinterest and tried it this morning. Came out fantastic! I didn’t make the topping, but I added some cinnamon, ginger and clove to the syrup and it tastes almost like an exact clone. I might cut back on the vanilla a little bit the next time I make it, but otherwise it seemed pretty spot on.
Thanks for posting the instructions and saving me $5 a day! 😛
Kelley says
Hooray! SO glad it turned out! Glad the instructions were easy to follow! Enjoy your $5 a day savings 😉