Simple Apple Pie Spice Recipe
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It’s the holidays and we know what that means… lots of sweet treats!
I’ve honestly not heard of apple pie spice until last week. When I did see it, I knew I just had to have it! I always love making my own spice blends - they’re just so easy, customizable and fresh!
Now that I’ve made Apple Pie Spice, I got inspired to use it in so many ways! You’ll see at the bottom of this post for some ideas! I give more details in my free guide, Make Cooking Fun!!, my top 5 tips to explore your potential in the kitchen, how using what you have can really spark some creativity! Just taking two minutes to make this easy and warm spice blend will certainly get you wanting to try out new things! Try to find a dish that would fall into one of the four themes in my free Live to Cook one month challenge! If an apple pie is special to you, then this homemade spice blend will really give your apple pie an extra kick, and you’ll want to put your heart on that plate! You can get these guides by signing up to my newsletter, and that way you’ll never miss out when I share a new recipe!
To see how simple it is to make a comforting Apple Pie Spice, be sure to watch the video at the bottom of this post! If you’re not already, please YouTube channel channel and hit the bell button so you’re notified whenever a new video recipe goes up! I love to share the videos with the written recipes so you’ve got all the tools you need for success! Let’s get blending!
Why Make Apple Pie Spice
Easy: You just measure out the ingredients in a bowl and mix!
4 ingredients: Yup, four spices is all we’ll need! You should be able to gather this all in a pinch!
Money-saver: I’ve never actually seen apple pie spice packaged at the store, but I don’t doubt it exists. However, I’m sure they charge way too much!
Fresh: You’ll know how fresh this spice is based on when you purchased the individual spices involved to make the blend!
Customizable: Take the ratios presented here as a guideline, but feel free to make some adjustments based on your preference!
What’s the Difference Between Apple Pie Spice & Pumpkin Pie Spice?
Apple pie spice is used in apple pies and pumpkin pie spice is used in pumpkin pies!
Heh just kidding! While this is true that’s not the REAL difference ;)
I find the difference between pumpkin pie spice and apple pie spice is quite subtle - but there is a difference! Both spices are warm spices but the apple pie spice is more fragrant than pumpkin spice - pumpkin spice is warmer and more intense.If you refer to my DIY Pumpkin Spice recipe, you know that it contains allspice and clove whereas the apple pie spice does not contain these. On the other hand, apple pie spice has cardamom. Some versions of apple pie spice exclude cardamom, but I don’t see why you would do that! I love to include cardamom in my Indian desserts such as Rice Kheer (rice pudding) or Sooji Halwa (semolina pudding). It really adds so much flavour, so I hope you won’t skip this ingredient either!
Ingredients for Apple Pie Spice
The FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD is at the bottom of this post for all ingredient quantities and to save the instructions for later. The recipe card will also let you scale the recipe if you want to make a big batch of Apple Pie Spice!
Cinnamon: Ground cinnamon. You can use cinnamon sticks if you want your Apple Pie Spice to be super fresh, and either use a coffee grinder or blender to grind it or use a mortar and pestle.
ginger: Ground ginger here.
nutmeg: Ground. You can use a microplane to grate whole nutmeg, as I like to do. I find it fresher than packaged ground nutmeg.
cardamom: If you don’t have ground green cardamom, you can grind it down whole green cardamom pods using a mortar and pestle.
How to Make Simple Apple Pie Spice
To make this apple pie spice recipe, all you need to do is mix all the spices together in a plate or shake the ingredients together in an airtight jar.
Tips for the most flavourful apple pie spice!
Use fresh spices: Ensure that your packaged ground spices aren’t too old. The fresher they are, the more potent they’ll make your Apple Pie Spice.
Grind your own spices: It adds a few more steps, but it’s even cheaper and will be so much more fragrant!
Make a large batch: If this spice really inspires you to get baking, brewing, and more, then you’ll want to have a lot of it on hand! You can triple or even quadruple the recipe and store in a larger jar if you know apple pie spice will be the new pumpkin pie spice!
How Can I Use Homemade Apple Pie Spice?
Baked goods: Try it in brownies, pizookies, cookies and edible cookie dough, bread pudding, or cupcakes!
Oatmeal: This would be such a nice garnish for overnight oats or stovetop oats! Feel free to add this in any hot cereal.
Hot drinks: Garnish hot chocolates with it, such as my S’mores Hot Chocolate or Decadent White Hot Chocolate or switch up your Starbucks Cafe Mocha! In fact, you should certainly use this if you try to recreate Starbucks’ Apple Crisp Macchiato (it surprised me how good it is!)
Cold drinks: My first time using this Homemade Apple Pie Spice was to garnish my Eggnog Dalgona Latte!
Pancakes: This would be so good with my Eggnog Pancakes with Caramelized Bananas! Feel free to also pair with crepes!
Fruit: Top it over caramelized fruits such as bananas, apples or pears! This is a perfect winter treat!
Giving apple Pie Spice as a gift
Christmas is right around the corner, and if you’ve got a special baker in your life, then perhaps consider gifting your Homemade Apple Pie Spice! I recommend you use a label maker to label the jar, and tie it with a nice ribbon! DIY gifts are always the most special, wouldn’t you agree!
How to Store Apple Pie Spice
I recommend you use a funnel to easily transfer your Apple Pie Spice into a glass jar. Make sure to store the jar in a cool, dark place, ideally your pantry. You can keep the homemade apple pie spice blend for about two years.
More Homemade Spice Blends!
Watch How to Make Simple apple pie spice Here:
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cookingwithanadi. Thank you!