Pumpkin Pie Spice at home

Let me start by telling you a story. I am originally from the island of Cyprus and I moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18 to study. I was always a big fan of the kitchen, whether that meant cooking or baking - and I still am. I am also the first one to try new things, and if I see something at the grocery store I haven't seen before, I will buy it just to try new flavors. I am one of those gals that go to a restaurant and try something new every time. That's me. So, when I first moved to this huge city that had all these cookbooks and cooking magazines galore, I signed up for all of them!!

At that time, Better Homes and Gardens had an Annual Recipes Book. I still have it. It's the 2002 one. And there was a recipe inside for Pumpkin Spice Whoopies. First of all, what is a whoopie?? I had no idea! And pumpkin in a dessert? What? You have to understand this was a time of barely any internet. I had never heard of a Pumpkin Pie or even a Sweet Potato Pie. Or sweet potatoes for that matter! All I knew is that pumpkins were these orange things that made great lanterns for Halloween that I saw on TV.

I made my little grocery shopping list, and headed to the store. There was actually a spice, called Pumpkin Pie Spice! (FYI, Pumpkin Spice Lattes were not released yet. This was the year before) Boy oh boy I was so excited! So many new things to try!! I headed home, opened the tin container and took a sniff. WOW! This was a new sense of autumn that burst into my nose!

You are probably stuck on the "tin container." Yes, at this time (I am not sure if they still do that) Kroger had their Pumpkin Pie Spice come in a tin type of shaker, where you could either

1. put the whole spoon in to get a teaspoon

2. sprinkle on top of something, like apples or whipped cream (or both)

3. the in-between hole that I never ever use 😅

Confession: I still have the actual tin at home as a memorabilia. There is only a tiny bit of spice left inside, and every year around fall, I open it and sniff (like a pumpkin spice addict)

What I am trying to say is, I don't travel to the USA very often, and even though I can find canned pumpkin (oh yeah, I used to make the pumpkin puree from scratch), I haven't ran across this spice. So I only found it fit, to make my own!

The ingredients on the back of the tin were clear. Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger and Cloves. The problem was, how much to use of each. I tried a couple of different variations that I also found online, but of course, I couldn't get that same taste. Below I am sharing the one that I settled on, with my own adjustments. I am not a big fan of ginger, therefore this is heavy on the cinnamon and not so much on the ginger. I kept the same ingredients as on the tin, even though some people add allspice. I omitted that firstly, because it wasn't on the tin, and secondly, because it has a slight peppery taste, that I wouldn't want on my coffee in the morning, if I'd be using this for a Pumpkin Spice Latte.

Here is the recipe for this spice blend. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. You can sprinkle it on yogurt, on apples, on vanilla ice cream. Or you can use it in recipes.

I will soon be sharing my Whoopie Pie recipe with you, so stay tuned! You can get to use your Pumpkin Pie Spice.