How To Easily Make Your Own Pumpkin Pie Spice

Regardless of what Martha Stewart may think of the PSL, there's no denying that pumpkin pie spice (often just referred to as pumpkin spice) is the flavor of fall. Everything from the eponymous pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving to lattes, autumnal muffins and cookies, and even savory offerings like pumpkin and root vegetable soups benefit from a dash (or more) of the stuff. That said, store-bought pumpkin pie spice isn't cheap, ranging from more than $1 per ounce for store-brand generic up to more than $4 per ounce for name-brand stuff. When you consider that an ounce of pumpkin pie spice is about 16 teaspoons, you may go through a lot in the fall and winter months. Luckily, it's incredibly easy to make your own. All you have to do is combine cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.

Ta-da! Your very own pumpkin pie spice in whatever small or large quantities you need for your baking and flavoring all season long. But before you go mixing your spices all willy-nilly, there are a few things to keep in mind, including how much of which spices to use and how to get the freshest flavor from your homemade pumpkin pie spice.

If the mixture of cinnamon, ginger, clove, allspice, and nutmeg sounds like it could work for many different confections and not just pumpkin pie, you're not wrong. The same assortment of spices can be found in some recipes for gingerbread, apple pie, and generic "winter blend" favorites. What differentiates pumpkin pie spice from the others is the ratio of the different spices in the blend. The most prominent flavor in pumpkin pie spice is cinnamon, followed by ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice in descending amounts. This is unlike the holiday season favorite gingerbread, for instance, where cinnamon and ginger are found in equal amounts. To get the right ratio for pumpkin pie spice, try nine parts ground cinnamon, two parts ground ginger, one-and-a-half to two parts ground nutmeg, and one to one-and-a-half parts each ground cloves and ground allspice, based on your tastes.

To simplify, consider each "part" here a teaspoon (and every 3 teaspoons equals 1 tablespoon): 3 tablespoons of cinnamon, 2 teaspoons of ground ginger, 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons of ground nutmeg, 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons of ground cloves, and 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons of ground allspice. If you prefer your pumpkin pie spice to have an extra kick, you can even add a pinch of ground black pepper to the mix (but we're talking a small pinch here, less than ⅛ teaspoon of finely ground pepper). With the right ratio, you can make as much (or as little) pumpkin pie spice as you need.

While making your own pumpkin pie spice in small quantities is one way to ensure fresh flavor, there's an even better way to give your fall creations a fresh flavor boost: Grind your own spices. Pre-ground spices have a much shorter shelf-life than you might expect, though it can be difficult to understand what exactly is meant by shelf-life in this instance. 

Ground spices will retain some flavor for two to three years (and are safe to eat during that time), but they start to lose their flavor as soon as you open them — and most of the flavor will be gone after just six months. For this reason, if you've had jars of ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves since last fall, your pumpkin pie spice won't have nearly as much flavor as you'd probably like (and throwing out spices is expensive). 

Whole spices, however, can retain their flavor for four to five years. This means that if you grind your pumpkin pie spices at home (and grinding whole spices is easy with a spice grinder or mortar and pestle) you'll be able to extract much fresher flavor for a longer period, across two to three seasons of pumpkin goodness.