Pumpkin Pie Spice Recipe
Pumpkin Pie Spice Recipe is a fragrant Fall must-have to store in your pantry. What is in pumpkin pie spice? Our recipe is a blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, all spice, and ground cloves.
Use our Pumpkin Pie Spice Recipe in place of cinnamon, in any recipe you have. Think pies, cakes, muffins, cookies, puddings, pancakes and even sauces.
Try our Pumpkin Spice Cake Donuts
Pumpkin Pie Spice Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon ground
- 2 teaspoons ginger ground
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg ground
- 1/2 teaspoon all spice ground
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves ground
Instructions
- Add all spices to a small glass jar.
- Twist on the lid.
- Give everything a good shake.
- Write Pumpkin Pie Spice on the label along with the date, to ensure freshness.
- Store in your cupboard or spice rack.
Tips and Tricks
Let’s find out a little bit more about the spices that make up our Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend Recipe.
Cinnamon is from the bark of a tree called a laurel tree. More commonly, in grocery stores, Cassia is sold under the same name. The only way to tell the difference is by purchasing in bark form and not ground. Cinnamon is light brown in colour and has a floral scent. Cassia is thicker and reddish, with a spicier aroma.
Ginger is a flowering plant that provides a sweet and slightly peppery spice. It is used in baking, but also in a wide variety of savoury dishes from Asia, India, and the Caribbean.
Nutmeg comes in a hard shell that has to be cracked to extract the “nut”. Then, it can be grated by hand using a tiny nutmeg grater. Grenada, in the Caribbean, is one of the biggest suppliers in the world. So important is nutmeg to the country’s economy, the spice appears on the national flag.
All spice comes from a bushy tree that produces round berries. Inside the berries are the seeds used as all spice. Jamaica grows some of the best all spice in the world.
Cloves are the small red-brown flower buds from a tropical evergreen tree. Hot and sweet, the spice is often used in Christmas desserts.
How can I be sure to buy the best possible spices?
Think about buying fresh, whole spices from ethnic markets, specialty markets or on travels to the Caribbean. Then purchase a small grinder and grind your own. You’ll find the flavour superior and can therefore reduce the amount of spice needed in recipes.
Grocery store spices can be on the shelves for upward to a year, before being purchased. These same spices are in a warehouse long before that.
Grinding your own spices ensures the spice will be free of other additives such as salt, flour, or foreign matter. Yikes!
Whole spices will last for up to three years. Freshly ground spices will last for up to six months. When in doubt, use your nose! Fresh spices will smell fragrant, while old spices will have no scent at all.
To store, keep spices in a cool, dry space. A glass container, with a tight-fitting lid works best.
