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I miss summer already. You’ve heard of social drinkers. I’m a social ice cream eater and don’t crave or stock it at home. While visiting with our younger family members this summer, the kids picked multi-colored cones, and I was seduced by the tub of pistachio. I even wrote about ice cream in a blog.
At the annual Pleasanton Weekly team picnic in mid-August at Lions Wayside Park, we ambled over to Meadowlark Dairy, an iconic Pleasanton place for ice cream. I was delighted with the black raspberry.
On that hot August day, I realized that inevitably, pumpkin everything was on the horizon. I decided to poll some colleagues about pumpkin spice lattes.
“I’ve never had one, but I would like to see what the hype is all about,” said Pleasanton Weekly publisher Gina Channell Wilcox. And hype there is. Starbucks is credited with beginning the craze for PSL, the abbreviation marked on the cup, over twenty years ago.
Adam Dawes, CEO of Embarcadero Media Foundation, the parent company of the Weekly, chimed in to say that when he goes to a coffee shop, he orders a cappuccino or espresso and added, “If I want pumpkin, I choose pumpkin bread.”
On the way home from the picnic, I stopped at Safeway and encountered the first supermarket Halloween end-cap display of the year. A bag of Reese’s white chocolate pumpkins stared me in the face; eating one would suffice for the season. The Ghirardelli sign, “Chocolate Makes Life Better,” made me smile, but the bag touted “Milk Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Caramels” which to me, was not appetizing.
Maybe, I thought, it is un-American not to like “pumpkin spiced” food.
Wondering how chefs are applying pumpkin to their menus this fall, I contacted Francis Hogan, Founding Chef and Culinary Director of the Sabio Restaurant Group which includes Sabio on Main and the new Crush’d Wine Bar & Kitchen in Danville.
“We tend to avoid anything that’s ‘pumpkin spiced.’ We love using the abundance of winter pumpkins in both sweet and savory applications, but it’s the actual pumpkin that I appreciate—not the forced blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and allspice that permeates seemingly any and everything for the next eight weeks,” said Hogan.
His philosophy reminded me of Kristin Brown’s comment about pumpkin at the picnic. The design and operations manager of the Weekly said, “I’ll eat pumpkin pie once a year, and I’ve tasted pumpkin coffee creamer, but that’s it.”
Brown’s comment about pie and Hogan’s words on spices prompted me to contact my niece Sima Krusheski, a terrific baker. I am a fan of her pumpkin pie and asked her about the spices. Her response—cinnamon, nutmeg and dry ginger—engendered a “Eureka!” moment.
I looked up the ingredients for McCormick pumpkin spice and clove appeared on the list. Torani syrups, a major supplier for coffee shops, described their seasonal option this way: “Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves swim together in a robust pumpkin-flavored syrup.”
No wonder I don’t like PSLs. Cloves have a unique flavor and contain antioxidants, but they are not my preference. Now I see why I bake with cinnamon and have instinctively avoided adding pumpkin spice or cloves to the spice rack.
I look forward to ordering apple cider donuts at Sabio, a mainstay in downtown Pleasanton for nine years, where Chef Hogan changes his donut recipe every season. “Every autumn I menu apple cider donuts. We add apple cider to the donut dough instead of water and serve them with apple compote made from a rotating selection of apples from K&J Orchards bought at the Pleasanton Farmers Market,” said Hogan.
Even Starbucks has realized that PSL drinks have saturated the market. This year the coffee chain introduced more apple-flavored autumn drinks such as Iced Apple Crisp Nondairy Cream Chai.
At Story Coffee in Livermore since 2019, owner Paul Halvorsen serves a PSL drink, but the recipe differentiates from most by using organic pumpkin purée. Halvorsen also follows the apple trend with Apple Pie Honey Tea Latte made with Apple Pie tea, oat milk, honey, and topped with spices.
Pleasanton has a new café which specializes in coffee along with burritos and sandwiches. Koffee Time Bakery and Café opened in April, 2024. Co-owner Ruth Olguin has restaurant experience and her husband, Carlos Hernandez, cooked at Castlewood Country Club for 17 years and works part-time for On the Vine Catering. The cozy café and patio, located off Main Street by Workbench True Value, has already attracted regulars.
At Koffee Time, customers can order PSL drinks with regular or Mexican coffee made with cinnamon. I ordered a regular PSL with a dash of pumpkin spice syrup. Though well made, I still am not a fan of PSLs. I ordered a Mexican Mocha made with Mexican coffee, cocoa powder and cinnamon to go.
But what caught my eye was the pumpkin cake in the pastry case. If you are a fan of carrot cake, this pumpkin version tops it with more robust flavor from the pumpkin. The cream cheese icing was not too rich which was a plus. Pumpkin-coated white chocolate leaf and crumbles on the icing was another bonus.
Though the pumpkin cake tasted house made, Olguin told me the café contracts with well-established Calif. bakeries to supply the baked goods and breads.
Wingen Bakery in Livermore is known for their bread, pastries, sandwiches and Pizza Night Fridays. I spoke with co-owner Aimee Wingen, about pumpkin in her pastries. The former sous-chef at Range in Livermore and a pastry chef in other restaurants, Wingen is well-experienced in baking for the seasons and already has an orange and yellow colored Monster Cookie in the fall portfolio containing Reese’s pieces, walnuts and oats. She also makes pumpkin pie on the weekends and gluten free pumpkin spice muffins.
Wingen created West Coast Supreme pastries—think croissant swirls which are sold daily. Look for the Apple Butter and Sweet Cream Supreme in October, stay tuned for the November Supreme that may include a pumpkin-squash filling.
Pop tarts are Wingen’s newest creations available on Fridays and weekends. She recently added pumpkin to the fall lineup. I asked Wingen about the spice mix, and clove is a component. But the pumpkin pop tart looks so nostalgic and fun that I will try one with a mocha.
I must be moderate with the pop tarts and pumpkin cake at Koffee Time, or I will turn into a pumpkin.
Meanwhile my niece reminded me that pumpkin spice beer is popular during the upcoming Oktoberfest season. I was more pleased to hear that Meadowlark Dairy is now serving pumpkin spice ice cream.
