Inspired to do some pumpkin baking this season? Start with the super easy home-made pumpkin-pie spice mix. Just combine ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves to quickly make a batch for any of your fall recipes — be it sweet or savory.
What spices are in pumpkin-pie spice?
Come fall and everyone starts to sing, “Pumpkin spice and all things nice”! For the longest of the time, I used to wonder what is Pumpkin Pie Spice? More than the actual pumpkin pie, I’ve seen bigger craziness for the pumpkin-pie spice latte. So I just had to look it up in the store and when I turned the bottle over, I realized it was simply a mix of 4 very common spices — cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. All of which I always have in my spice rack. These spices are commonly used for Indian cooking and for making garam masala which makes it a good alternative to pumpkin-pie spice!
I normally keep cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves as whole spices. Whole spices retain freshness and aroma for longer than ground ones. To make this spice blend I simply ground them all together.
I love pumpkin and it’s sweet earthiness and I can see how the warm spices in the pumpkin pie spice mix further enhance that sweetness in pumpkin desserts. Till now my pumpkin adventures have been limited to savory dishes like Indian pumpkin fry, pumpkin soup or roasted pumpkin. In my naivety, I always thought since I don’t have the celebrated pumpkin spice in my pantry, I cannot make any pumpkin dessert recipe! No more.
Even in savory dishes, I’ve always used ginger, cinnamon, and cloves with pumpkin and other squashes. They both compliment each other so well. And not just with pumpkin, the spice mix can be used in many recipes like:
- Seasoning for soups
- Oatmeal
- Date Bars and granola
- Carrot cake
- Spiced Banana Bread
- Curries that use garam masala like Red kidney beans curry
- Pack in a jar, stick a little label and it also makes a thoughtful holiday gift!
The ratio of the different spices is why you need to refer to a recipe. Cinnamon is the primary spice. I use a simple ratio of 3:1:1:1 i.e. 3 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp each of ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Some recipes also use allspice in addition to the 4 spices but I have found these 4 spices to work perfectly well.
I would love to know what pumpkin delights are you cooking up this season. Let me know if this simple homemade pumpkin-pie spice mix recipe was helpful!
Easy homemade Pumpkin-pie Spice Mix
Ingredients (1cup = 240ml; 1tbsp = 15ml; 1tsp = 5ml)
- 3 tbsp cinnamon ground
- 1 tbsp ginger ground
- 1 tbsp nutmeg ground
- 1 tbsp cloves ground
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine all ground spices well.
- Store in an air-tight bottle. Make smaller batches for maximum freshness.
Notes
- If you are using whole spices, ground them separate or break them using a mortar-pestle first into tinier pieces and then ground them together in proportion. Allow the ground spices to cool before storing it in a jar.
- Nutritional Information is for 1 tsp of pumpkin spice which is the usual amount for a regular pumpkin bread recipe.
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