This Easy Homemade Spice Mix Is My Secret Fall Baking ingredient

During fall, pumpkin spice-flavored treats make their appearance just about, well, everywhere. But do you even know what’s in it? Here’s what it is and why you should make it at home. (Hint: It’s as easy as it gets!)

For years, I thought pumpkin pie spice really had pumpkin in it. But there’s no actual pumpkin in pumpkin pie spice. It’s simply a blend of the traditional spices that go into a good ol’ fashioned pumpkin pie.

Read more: Pumpkin Spice Is Not Actually What Pumpkin Tastes Like

If you go the store-bought route, pumpkin pie spice blends can vary by manufacturer, but typically contain the more sweet-smelling spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger. Allspice and mace are also common ingredients.

The most classic blend puts cinnamon front and center, with slightly less ginger and just a pinch of allspice, cloves, mace, and nutmeg. But making the blend from scratch means you get to choose the ratio!

Go for some extra ginger, or skip the cloves if you can’t stand the flavor. Trust me, once you’ve made your own, you’ll never want to buy a commercial blend again.

In addition to being able to customize it to your liking, making your own spice blend costs less than buying a big jar of something pre-made, especially if you already have most of the spices. It’s also better to make smaller batches so you use up the blend before it starts to go stale and loses its flavor.

While you can use it to flavor your morning latte, pies, and other baked goods, you can also sprinkle it over hard squash before roasting, spice up some whipped cream, or mix it into some yogurt or ice cream base — it’s quite a versatile spice blend.