Pumpkin Pie Spice

A bottle of pumpkin pie spice can be a really handy thing to have around the house, especially during the fall season when pumpkin and apple flavored baked goods are in full swing. Unfortunately, most store-bought versions are stale and exorbitantly priced, so I like to make myself a big homemade batch from whole spices to use throughout the season.

This year, because our pumpkin harvest was so bountiful, I’ve decided to give a few of our smaller sugar pumpkins away to friends of ours who like to bake. To accompany the pumpkin, I thought it’d be nice to prepare a single-serve packet of my homemade pumpkin pie spice to go along with it.

Pumpkin Pie Spice
• 8-10 cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces
• 2 teaspoons whole allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Place the whole spices (cinnamon sticks, allspice berries, cloves and cardamom seeds) in a heavy bottom skillet over medium-high heat. Roast spices, stirring frequently, for a minute or two until the aroma hits your nose. Do not burn.

Remove from heat, and transfer roasted spices into a coffee or spice grinder. Top with ground ginger and freshly ground nutmeg. Grind until the entire mixture is powder. Store in an airtight container.

To package my pumpkin pie spice for gifts, I used small rectangular glassine envelopes, adding about 1 tablespoon of the spice mix per envelope. I then sealed the envelopes with spice colored tags and labels in the style Metropolitan.

More homemade gift ideas from Lindsay Jewell…

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