Enjoy the taste of fall with our Starbucks apple crisp macchiato recipe copycat, layered with homemade apple simple syrup, spiced apple drizzle, and fresh espresso. You can serve the drink hot or cold, and since you don’t have to wait on the Starbucks seasonal menu, you can make the tasty Autumn beverage year-round!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- My apple crisp macchiato recipe comes together using fresh apples, apple juice, and brown sugar for a tasty autumn inspired drink.
Starbucks Apple Crisp Macchiato
As if Starbucks didn’t have the market cornered on all things fall, they went and released the apple crisp macchiato in the fall of 2021; apple lovers everywhere screamed with joy. While you can purchase the drink in-store, skip the lines and make our homemade apple crisp macchiato recipe in the comfort of your kitchen.
What is the Apple Crisp Macchiato?
Preparing a macchiato involves skillfully layering ingredients. Starbucks departs every from a real macchiato that famously features milk “stained or marked” (the meaning of the word macchiato in Italian) by espresso shots since they include the tasty syrups and sauces in the drink that make us line up at their stores.
What is the Starbucks Apple Crisp Macchiato Made Of?
When you purchase the drink in stores, this is your order:
- 3 pumps Apple Brown Sugar Syrup
- 1 cup steamed oat milk
- 2 shots Blonde Starbucks Espresso
- Spiced Apple Drizzle
What You Need to Make This Recipe
- Apple: Use fresh apples to flavor the simple syrup. Once you drain the syrup and set it aside, use the leftover apples to make homemade apple crisp or topping for our oat milk pancakes.
- Brown Sugar: Combine water and brown sugar to make homemade apple crisp simple syrup. I prefer dark brown sugar, but either one will work.
- Spices: Enhance the syrup and drizzle by spicing them with ground cinnamon and nutmeg for the perfect touch of fall flavor.
- Apple Cider: Hot apple cider creates a thick drizzle, perfect for finishing the drink with the Apple Crisp Macchiato’s signature lattice drizzle.
- Butter: Butter enhances the flavor and color of apple drizzle, giving it a rich, creamy taste. The butter also helps prevent crystallization during the cooking process.
- Heavy Cream: Heavy cream provides a creamy, smooth consistency and helps to cool down the drizzle and prevent it from becoming too thick and grainy.
- Vanilla Extract: Further sweeten the apple drizzle with vanilla extract.
- Espresso: Macchiatos feature fresh espresso, but use drip coffee or cold brew concentrate if that’s what you have.
- Milk: Starbucks advertises using oat milk to make their drink, but use your milk of choice.
Additions and Substitutions
Skip the homemade apple drizzle and use a store-bought caramel sauce instead. Similarly, you can purchase apple syrup or brown sugar cinnamon syrup to replace the apple crisp simple syrup in the recipe.
How to Make Our Apple Crisp Macchiato Recipe
The full recipe with measurements is in the recipe card below.
For the Apple Crisp Simple Syrup:
Step 1: Combine water, apple peels, cinnamon sticks, brown sugar, and ground nutmeg in a saucepan and warm it over medium heat.
Step 2: Stir until the brown sugar completely dissolves. Remove the pan from heat and let steep for at least 10 minutes.
Step 3: Pour the mixture through a mesh strainer into an airtight container and let it cool.
For the Apple Drizzle:
Step 4: Add the sugar and apple cider to a heavy-bottomed saute pan. Stir, using a silicone spatula, until the mixture is in a flat even layer.
Step 5: Warm the pan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Continue to simmer until the mixture becomes translucent and starts to bubble.
Step 6: Sugar clumps will begin to form, but continue cooking and swirling until the mixture darkens, for about 8-10 minutes.
Step 7: Add the butter and whisk continually until the butter melts. The sugar will start bubbling rapidly, so keep whisking to prevent the mixture from burning to the bottom of the pan.
Step 8: Remove the pan from heat, and slowly add the heavy cream, whisking continually until the mixture is fully incorporated. Then, stir in the vanilla extract, ground nutmeg and cinnamon.
Build Your Own Starbucks Drink:
Assemble the components for our apple crisp macchiato recipe by adding apple crisp simple syrup to a glass, followed by ice and milk. Top the drink with freshly brewed espresso and drizzle homemade spiced apple drizzle in a lattice over the top to make it look like an apple pie in a mug.
Add
Step 9: Add two tablespoons of apple crisp simple syrup to a drinking glass or mug.
Top
Step 10: Pour ice and cold milk or steamed milk over the syrup. Then, top the milk with espresso.
Finish
Step 11: Use the homemade apple drizzle to garnish the drink, creating a lattice, just like they do at Starbucks, and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Don’t Boil the Simple Syrup: Warm water and the other ingredients for the simple syrup, but do not let the mixture boil. It needs to be heated just enough for the sugar to dissolve. Then, remove the saucepan from the heat and let the syrup steep and cool completely before transferring it to an airtight container.
- Keep an Eye on the Apple Drizzle: The sugar and apple cider mixture will be cloudy at first, but wait for it to turn clear and start bubbling. After the sugar clumps begin to form, keep your eye on it so it doesn’t burn; it should be an amber-brown color. Once you add the butter, continue whisking for proper caramelization.
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What to Do With the Leftovers
While the extras for our apple crisp macchiato recipe are labor intensive, you will have enough leftovers to make the delicious fall drink for weeks to come.
- Apple Crisp Simple Syrup: Keep leftover syrup fresh in the fridge by storing it in an airtight container for up to one month.
- Apple Drizzle: Pour the leftover apple drizzle into an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for three weeks. The caramelized drizzle will harden in the fridge, but you can warm it up in the microwave.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are you supposed to stir the apple crisp macchiato?
Macchiatos are generally not stirred, but it’s up to you; I like to mix my drinks so all the fall flavors combine.
Is apple crisp macchiato better iced or hot?
They are the same in terms of flavor. However, I taste more of the apple flavor when I make an iced apple crisp. Full disclosure – I am more of an iced coffee drinker, so I am biased.
What does the Starbucks apple crisp macchiato taste like?
It tastes like a caramel apple in a cup or like those caramel apple suckers. Do you know the ones I am talking about? What I love most about this drink is that it has an apple flavor but isn’t overly sweet.
Can I buy the syrups instead of making them at home?
The Starbucks flavored syrups are expensive, but you can buy syrups from other brands with similar flavors.
I enjoy making homemade apple crisp syrup since we have those ingredients in our pantry, and we can use them to make macchiatos and other desserts.
If you choose to go the store-bought route, here are some options:
• Apple Brown Sugar Syrup
• Apple Syrup
Is the apple crisp macchiato sweet?
Our apple crisp macchiato recipe has sugar in the simple syrup and the drizzle, yet the drink is not overpoweringly sweet.
More Recipes With Fruit:
Apple Crisp Macchiato Recipe
- 2 Airtight Containers
- Whisk
- Drinking Glass or Mug
- 1 cup water
- 2 apples, cut into pieces
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup white sugar
- ⅓ cup apple cider
- 6 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2-4 tablespoons apple crisp simple syrup (from the recipe above)
- ice, if using
- ½ cup milk
- 2 shots espresso,
- apple drizzle, for garnish (from the recipe above)
For the Apple Crisp Simple Syrup:
- Combine water, apple peels, cinnamon sticks, brown sugar, and ground nutmeg in a saucepan and warm it over medium heat. Stir until the brown sugar completely dissolves. Remove the pan from heat and let steep for at least 10 minutes.
- Pour the mixture through a mesh strainer into an airtight container and let it cool.
For the Apple Drizzle:
- Add the sugar and apple cider to a heavy-bottomed saute pan. Stir, using a silicone spatula, until the mixture is in a flat even layer.
- Warm the pan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Continue to simmer until the mixture becomes translucent and starts to bubble.
- Once the mixture is bubbling, do not stir. Swirl the pan occasionally and use the spatula to push down the drizzle on the sides of the pan to avoid crystallization.
- Sugar clumps will begin to form, but continue cooking and swirling until the mixture darkens, for about 8-10 minutes.
- Add the butter and whisk continually until the butter melts. The sugar will start bubbling rapidly, so keep whisking to prevent the mixture from burning to the bottom of the pan.
- Remove the pan from heat, and slowly add the heavy cream, whisking continually until the mixture is fully incorporated. Then, stir in the vanilla extract, ground nutmeg and cinnamon.
- Let it cool for 10 minutes, and transfer it to an airtight container.
For the Apple Crisp Macchiato:
- Add two tablespoons of apple crisp simple syrup to a drinking glass or mug.
- Pour ice and cold milk or steamed milk over the syrup. Then, top the milk with espresso.
- Use the homemade apple drizzle to garnish the drink, creating a lattice, just like they do at Starbucks, and enjoy!
- Don’t Boil the Simple Syrup: Warm water and the other ingredients for the simple syrup, but do not let the mixture boil. It needs to be heated just enough for the sugar to dissolve. Then, remove the saucepan from the heat and let the syrup steep and cool completely before transferring it to an airtight container.
- Keep an Eye on the Apple Drizzle: The sugar and apple cider mixture will be cloudy at first, but wait for it to turn clear and start bubbling. After the sugar clumps begin to form, keep your eye on it so it doesn’t burn; it should be an amber-brown color. Once you add the butter, continue whisking for proper caramelization.
- The nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for professional advice.