how to: make pumpkin pie spice
The other day I decided to take a look at the "freshness" date on my pumpkin pie spice... Let's just say that it probably hasn't been fresh for quite some time. I swear I just bought that spice yesterday, but that's not really possible unless yesterday was 2010. ANYWAY.A comment from a reader prompted me to make my own pumpkin pie spice instead of just going to buy another bottle. A number of people have mentioned that pumpkin pie spice is not available in their area, so hopefully now you can just whip some up yourself.
The recipe below makes about a half cup of pumpkin pie spice, which you can keep in a sealed tight container for about a year. Or, if you want to make a smaller quantity, just follow an approximate ratio of 8:2:2:2:1 (cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, clove).
Since I usually just assign a fixed estimated cost to spices of 5 cents per teaspoon or 10 cents for more expensive spices, I'm not going to try to calculate the cost here. I would have to weigh out the spices and most of them were purchased quite a while back and the receipts are long gone. So, this is a tutorial rather than a cost break down :)
How to: Make Pumpkin Pie Spice
| INGREDIENTS | |
| 1/4 cup | ground cinnamon |
| 1 Tbsp | ground ginger |
| 1 Tbsp | ground nutmeg |
| 1 Tbsp | ground allspice |
| 1 tsp | ground cloves |
STEP 1: Stir together all of the spices in a bowl until well combined. Store in an air-tight container away from direct sunlight for up to one year.
What should you do with all of that pumpkin pie spice? Make some Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal, Pumpkin Pie Smoothies, Pumpkin Pie Cream Cheese Spread, or Pumpkin Yogurt Parfaits.
Some people don't like clove, so you can leave that out if you'd like. Or, try using half of the amount that is listed (it can be quite strong).
12 comments:
Sounds great! I love to make up my own spices and this one would be fun to keep on hand...thanks for the recipe!
Also make my own spice blends to maintain freshness. Do so much baking that I do a baking blend pretty much in line with your recipe, except I keep the ginger out. This is because ginger is the one spice that I don't want in all the other baked items. Have found can just add when do anything with pumpkin and squashes - from pies to soups.
Nice! I paid like $5 for a tiny thing of pumpkin pie spice.. next time I'll mix my own and then have extra spices left over!
Thank you!
I live in Norway and sadly the fall tradition isn´t very popular here. I´ve been looking everywhere after something containing pumpkin. Can´t find it anywhere.. And it´s impossible to get pumpkin pie/pumpkin spice syrup from the big coffee syrup brands like DaVinci, Monin or Stirling here. I´m going crazy! So thank you again, this is perfect! :) I´m also going to actually buy my own pumpkin and make a syrup myself :)
i like making my own spice blends, but i don't make my own pumpkin pie spice because i go through at least 4 per year so i'm not worried about it staying fresh. you should try adding a hint of lemon zest & black pepper- that's what's in trader joe's blend, and it is AMAZING! that's the only one i use. :)
I have seen mace and cardamon mentioned in some homemade pumpkin pie spice recipe blends.
I use a recipe form another site when I make pumpkin pies...mine come completely from scratch down to the whole buy a pie pumpkin cook and use that it uses cardamom which IMO is a very under utilized spice. :)
I highly recommend buying whole spices and grating them or grinding them to make blends, especially nutmeg. Whole nutmegs really hold their flavor for a long time if you put them in something airtight. I grate mine with a microplane. (For spices that need to be ground, I use a blade grinder I repurposed after we got a burr grinder for coffee.)
stumbled upon your blog yesterday....thanks for the great ideas and money conscious recipes. Can't wait to make the root beer pulled pork!! Joanne
Just wanted to say thank you for everything! I've been reading your blog a lot, and never had a chance to say thanks for your awesome recipes.
October 15th To day I wanted to make some pumpkin bars but I was out of pumpkin spice. I went to look up how to make pumpkin pie spice and found your recipe. However I used the 8-2-2-2-1 measurement only I used teaspoons. It make about 3/4 of a baby food jar. Just the right amount to have on hand. My recipe only called for 1 teaspoon. Thanks Mary
From another food blog I read -
http://casualkitchen.blogspot.com.au/2008/09/ten-tips-to-save-money-on-spices-and.html
Daniel talks about how long you can keeps spices. It's interesting, and I agree, and have used some scarily old spices myself.
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