5 STARBUCKS HOLIDAY DRINKS | Irish Cream Cold Brew, Caramel Brulee Latte, Egg Nog Latte & more!

It's the most wonderful time of the year for you coffee lovers out there. Today I'm showing you how to make the top five holiday drinks from Starbucks, so get ready to save a ton of time and money. This way you can buy more presents. Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. It's Taylor from The Girl on Bloor. I'm all about showing you how to make easy, healthy recipes that you can live your best life. Obviously I'm branching off just a bit here from the healthy recipe vibes I'm usually giving out, but I think you can forgive me because I'm showing you some amazing Starbucks drinks, and they're made just a little bit lighter. It's the holidays, so we're all indulging a little more than usual, but you can indulge a lot smarter by making your own lattes at home. Less sugar, and you can actually control the amount of milk being added. I don't know about you, but that's my one beef with Starbs. They charge you a ton of money for a whole lot of milk and not a whole lot of coffee, so we're avoiding that here today. Let's dive into what we're making. I'll be showing you the formula for a perfect peppermint mocha along with an eggnog latte, gingerbread latte, caramel brulee latte, and the Irish cream cold brew. These are just peak holiday flavors, and I'm so excited to share them with you today. Without further ado, let's get started. We'll start with the peppermint mocha. Just a note that today's recipe is served just one person, but I have a handy little tool on my site that allows you to increase the serving size. I've linked to it in my description if you're making more than one drink, so head there if you need to. So for our peppermint mocha, you're first going to make your mint syrup. You can go the store-bought route, but it's so simple to make at home, and I've even nailed down a single serving size if you don't think you're going to use the syrup much in the future. Boil some water in a kettle, then add two tablespoons of boiling water, one tablespoon of sugar, and one teaspoon of peppermint extract. Easy peasy. Now you're going to take a glass and add one cup of milk, stir in one tablespoon of cocoa powder, and then add your mint syrup. Microwave for one to two minutes until hot, or you can even add this all to a milk frother and froth it until hot. Usually your frother shuts off automatically when it's hot enough. When that is heating up, you'll then brew your espresso shots. I have one of the Nespresso City's machines, and I absolutely love it. It's so easy to use, and that's important because I'm a straight-up coffee addict. This isn't an ad or anything, I just really love the simplicity of their system. You insert the pods, press a button, and you've got caffeine. Okay, once you've got your espresso shots brewed, your milk should be done, so that all you need to do is mix the two together. You can serve as is, or if you're really in the holiday spirit, you can add some whipped cream and crushed candy canes on top. Best holiday drink ever. Now, second to this drink has got to be the eggnog latte. Sadly, you can't find eggnog at the store year-round, so this really is an over-the-top beverage that you need to enjoy the heck out of because it'll be out of style come January. But just a pro tip if you're trying to enjoy this latte out of season, you can actually get dry packets of eggnog that you can mix in the milk. Genius, right? Well, whether you're using the real stuff or the packet version, here's how to make an eggnog latte. Take a large mug or milk frother, then mix together half a cup of eggnog, half a cup of milk, and a pinch of nutmeg. You don't need any sweetener here because you'll get more than enough with the eggnog. Microwave this mixture for one to two minutes or froth until hot. Again, you'll brew two espresso shots while waiting for your milk and eggnog mixture. Pour your espresso shots into the mix, and again, if you're feeling fancy, spritz some whipped cream over top, add in a cinnamon stick, and then add another sprinkling of nutmeg. This latte comes together super quickly and tastes just like Christmas in a glass. You have to try it. Holiday drink number three is the gingerbread latte. Personally, I think this one is my favorite out of all of them. It's subtly sweet, not trying to do too much, and I start to enjoy it as early as the fall because the cinnamon and ginger are just a match made in heaven. For this drink, you'll first make a small amount of simple syrup. Boil some water in a kettle, then add one tablespoon of boiling water and two teaspoons of sugar to a mug or milk frother. Stir in one cup of milk, then half a teaspoon of cinnamon and half a teaspoon of powdered ginger. I should have mentioned this earlier, but you can use any type of milk you'd like in these recipes. Starbucks uses 2% milk, and that's the kind that I always have on hand at home, but you can totally use coconut, almond, oat, cashew, or soy milk. Okay, so heat your milk mixture up, and you know the drill by now. Brew your espresso shots. Pour your milk and espresso into the same mug, then mix together well. If you're feeling it, add some whipped cream over top, sprinkle some extra ginger over top too, add a cute little gingerbread cookie, and then serve and enjoy. I just love curling up on the couch with one of these when it starts to turn cold out. It's the coziest drink ever. Now for another classic, and that's the caramel brulee latte. If you're a caramel fan, you're gonna love this one. Take your mug or milk frother, then add one tablespoon of store-bought caramel syrup. I have a whole bunch of Tarani syrups that I use in coffee, and I find this one is pretty close to the Starbucks caramel brulee syrup, but you could also try a toffee syrup as well. We are going with store-bought here to save time because caramel syrup in particular can be quite a process, and we are trying to make these drinks faster than we can get them at Starbucks, so don't question my choices. The last thing you need to add is one teaspoon of vanilla extract. Starbucks uses caramel brulee and vanilla syrups, but again, I'm providing you a little shortcut. Mix all of that together, then heat in the microwave for a couple minutes or froth until warm. Meanwhile, you guessed it, brew two espresso shots. You'll pour the espresso into the milk mixture, stirring well, and then you can top with some whipped cream and some toffee bits. I find the score pieces pretty easy to find at the store, and they are pretty similar to what Starbucks uses. Okay, caramel lovers, this one's for you. You're gonna love it. It's a little sweet for me, if I'm being honest, but variety is the spice of life, so I do indulge in one of these maybe once a year around the holidays. And now we can make it at home. Okay, we are on to our final recipe, and that is the Irish Cream Cold Brew. This one is a newer holiday drink that somehow I'd never even heard about it before. I know, what type of Starbucks fan am I even? Well, needless to say, this one's going into the rotation even year-round. Here's how to make it. First up, you'll need to make a batch of cold brew. It's super easy, but it does take some time to steep, so keep that in mind. So what you're going to do is take eight cups of filtered water and two cups of ground coffee and mix the two together in a large pitcher. Feel free to use any brand or brew of coffee you'd like. I like my coffee super strong, so I typically go with a dark roast, but you can totally go with something like a blonde or medium roast as well. Once you've got the coffee grounds and water mixed up, that's it for the time being. Place the lid on your pitcher, then you're going to let it sit in the fridge for at least 12 hours. I'll usually make my cold brew in the afternoon or evening and then let it sit overnight so that it's ready to go first thing in the morning. Okay, I'm going to make some magic happen with the video editing here so that our cold brew coffee is ready to come out of the fridge. Technically, you can even use store-bought cold brew or even the Starbucks brand of iced coffee that you can find at the grocery store, but making your own is so much cheaper and it's super easy. It does taste better, so while the waiting is hard, it's worth it. When the cold brew is good to go, give the pitcher one final stir and then take a clean kitchen towel or some cheesecloth. You can order the cheesecloth off of Amazon. I've linked to it in the description. You'll then take a fine mesh sieve, place the cheesecloth over top and slowly strain the coffee grounds, stirring with a spoon to push the liquid through to a second pitcher. You'll end up with about eight cups of cold brew. All you have to do is make the simple syrup and vanilla sweet cream to make your drink. First, boil some water in a kettle to make another small batch of simple syrup. Add one tablespoon of boiling water to a cup along with two teaspoons of sugar. Set that aside because you'll need it for your sweet cream. To make the vanilla sweet cream, you'll mix together one third of a cup of whipping cream along with two tablespoons of milk and your simple syrup. Blend it with an immersion blender or beaters to get it mostly thickened. You can actually make your sweet cream up to a couple days in advance, so you can even make it when you make your cold brew and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Now you finally have all the elements and you can now make your drink. Add about a cup of cold brew to a large glass filled with ice, then mix in one tablespoon of store-bought Irish cream syrup. Again, I like the Tarani brand and it helps you skip a ton of work by not having to make an additional syrup. Top your cold brew with your vanilla sweet cream, then sprinkle with cocoa powder if desired. Serve and enjoy. This drink is going to become a new holiday favorite. Okay, you have seen five amazing holiday drink ideas that are going to save you so much on Starbucks runs this season. Whether you like the hot drinks or the cold brew, these seasonal favorites will see you through the holiday season and they are so fun to make at home. Make one or make them all. Which one will you be trying first? If you know someone that is a Starbucks lover, be sure to share this video with them so that they can make their favorites and head to the link in my description for all of these recipes and for my full Starbucks recipe archives as well. I've got the egg cups, spinach feta wraps, and pretty much all the coffee and tea items from their menu. I've got so many coffee cats on the site that you'll never have to hit up Starbucks again. Who am I kidding? Of course you will, but maybe now you can cut your trips in half and also save tons of cash. As always, thanks for watching and I hope you enjoyed this video and I will see you in my next one.