Homemade Apple Pie Spice

Save money and make your own apple pie spice mix. This easy homemade apple pie spice is a fabulous shortcut to spice up apple pie, cobbler, and the like, but it has uses beyond baked goods. Once you start adding it to transform various things into autumn-worthy treats, you'll come up with many more to enjoy it.

The apple pie spice recipe is made with four common ground spices you may already have on hand. It's similar to pumpkin pie spice, which uses ginger rather than cardamom. The apple version also focuses a bit more on the nutmeg, and there are simple ways to customize the flavor. The recipe makes 1/4 cup of apple pie spice. It's easy to scale up or down to suit your needs, and an empty, clean herb jar or a small canning jar is a great way to store the bulk spice blend.

Use the spice in apple pie, spice cake or cupcakes, cookies, and pumpkin or other fruit pie recipes. Generally, you can add one tablespoon to many baked goods. Or, use it to replace all of the spices in a recipe; add them up and use the total amount when measuring the apple pie spice. It's also an excellent substitute in recipes that call for ground cinnamon alone and can be used as an equal measure.

There are other uses for the apple pie spice as well. For instance, add 1/2 teaspoon to a cup of cream to make spiced whipped cream. Sprinkle it over top yogurt, oatmeal, or ice cream, or use it instead of cinnamon for your French toast or pancakes. Blend it into smoothies for an interesting take on the pumpkin spice smoothie, or turn your favorite PSL recipe into an equally delicious apple spice latte with this blend and an apple purée. It's also a handy substitute for mulling spice when making mulled cider or wine.