This delicious and aromatic homemade apple pie spice mix is perfect to complement apple pies and any other apple dessert recipe. It's also a wonderful homemade gift idea.
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Fall is the time of year to start baking cozy comfort food again - especially with seasonal pumpkin and apples. If you find yourself making apple pie and other apple desserts regularly, having this apple pie spice mix ready to go will come in super handy.
Do you make use of seasonal produce as much as possible? I have to admit that I could be paying better attention to which fruit and vegetables are actually in season when planning our meals.
That's why I love local Farmers' markets or CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes so much. I don't actually have to think about what is in season, since they only have locally seasonal produce available - with variances from week to week.
Fall means apple harvest time. My parents use this time of year to the fullest.
They live in a region of Canada that is famous for its fruit orchards. Every year as apple season comes around they buy boxes and boxes of locally grown apples.
Some will be turned into homemade apple juice that my mom cans for the winter months. But they also have become masters of storing.
They control the temperature in their garage to ideal levels for apple storage. So they actually enjoy eating fresh local apples - harvested in fall - all the way into spring!
And the apples that go past their prime for fresh consumption get turned into delicious apple sauce, pies, cakes and more juice. Since my parents always generously share their apples, I am also making apple recipes all winter long.
For that reason I make sure to whip up my own apple pie spice mix early in fall to have handy for every apple recipe. A batch like the following usually lasts me until the end of winter.
Feel free to half the recipe, if you are only going to make a few apple pies.
What is in Apple Pie Spice?
Apple pie spice ingredients include a range of cozy, warming and sweet baking spices. Namely cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, and cardamom.
The last of these, cardamom, is what makes it specifically an apple seasoning. When I think of apple desserts, cardamom can't be missing. It gives baked apple treats its unique flavorful touch.
Surprisingly, I noticed that some store bought apple spice mixes don't include cardamom, which I think is a shame! (And a money making scheme - might as well use pumpkin pie spice or any other random sweet baking spice mix in that case then).
A jar of ground cardamom can be pricey to buy, especially if this apple pie seasoning recipe is the only reason you need it. That is why I love my bulk food store. There I can buy all the most random spices in very small amounts.
How to store homemade spice mixes
I love making homemade seasoning mixes year round. With a spice cabinet as stocked as mine it only makes sense to mix them together myself, since I usually already have all the individual ingredients on hand.
It's also super economical. For some reason ready mixed spices are always more expensive than the sum of their individual ingredients.
I am a master at recycling glass jars. So whenever I have an empty spice jar it gets shelved until I make my next spice mix.
If you don't have spice jars handy, any small container that seals airtight works for storing your apple pie spice blend. Small jelly jars also work great and they look fantastic if you want to give this apple spice seasoning to someone as a homemade gift.
Delicious recipes that use apple pie spice
- Apple Oatmeal Cookies (these are great for breakfast on-the-go)
- Healthy Apple Pancakes
- Apple Pie Granola
Apple Pie Spice Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground allspice
- 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
Instructions
- Whisk all ground spices together until evenly combined. Ground ginger tends to lump, so be sure to break up all the little ginger lumps with the back of a spoon.
- Fill the spice mix into a sealable container, like a glass spice jar or a small jelly jar.
Notes
- Use this spice mix liberally in any sweet apple dessert recipe.
- Replace cinnamon with an equal amount of apple pie spice.
- If a recipe calls for a number of different ground spice, just add up the measurements and use the total amount of spice mix instead.
Common Questions
Apple pie spice typically consists of a blend of warming spices such as cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, and cardamom. These spices are combined to create a flavorful seasoning mix perfect for apple-based desserts.
McCormick's apple pie spice, like most commercial blends, typically includes a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Specific formulations may vary, but these spices are commonly found in apple pie spice mixes.
While apple pie spice often contains allspice, it's not a one-to-one substitute. Allspice has a more concentrated flavor, so if you're using apple pie spice as a substitute, you might need to use more of it to achieve a similar flavor.
Several spices complement the flavor of apples. Besides the ones found in apple pie spice (cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, and cardamom), cloves, vanilla, and lemon zest are great options. The choice of spice depends on the specific dish you're making.
The key difference between these spice mixes is the inclusion of specific spices. Pumpkin pie spice typically consists of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves, while apple pie spice includes allspice and cardamom in addition to some of the spices found in pumpkin pie spice. The unique addition of cardamom in apple pie spice gives it a distinctive flavor perfect for apple desserts.
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