Make Your Own Pie Spice!

I was poking about in the kitchen the other day, using a recipe for peanut butter bread as a rough guideline for ratios to produce a butternut squash bread. (It turned out yummy, with the moist texture like a dense banana bread.) While working on it, I decided that some vanilla and "pie spice" blend was just what it needed to turn out great.

Well, I forgot to add the vanilla, but the pie spice blend I invented made the bread good enough that I almost didn't care about the missing vanilla.

Get the spice blend for yourself here—as well as some tips on how to adjust it for your own personal blend.

Misti’s Pie Spice

First know what must and what must not be in the spice. (For example, if you're going to be serving it to someone who’s allergic to nutmeg, don’t add the nutmeg.)

Next, get everything together (but if something's on your "must not" list, omit it).

What You Need:

This makes a bit over 1/8 c. of spice.

• an airtight jar, container, or baggie (to put the resultant spice in)
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (as in cassia; you can use true/ceylon cinnamon if you want)
• 1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper (green if you like spice strong; black for moderate; white for subtle)

What You Do:

Grind anything that isn't already ground, then measure everything into the airtight jar/container/baggie. Shake it. Use in place of "pumpkin pie spice" or "pie spice" in recipes.

Seriously, the hardest part is getting all those ingredients—but you can get good quality spices at nice prices at various bulk herb stores online. My preferred first stop is Mountain Rose Herbs*, for variety, price, quality, and customer service. You can find links to various herb stores I recommend on my "Recommendations" page.

I love nutmeg and cloves and ginger—flavors that nip at your tongue. If you prefer your spice to be milder, more subtle, you can swap the quantities of cardamom and ginger plus reduce the amount of cloves. (I recommend not going below 1/4 teaspoon.) If you like flavors even nippier than I do, try replacing the cardamom with ground grains of paradise.

As an added benefit, my blend is essentially glucose-lowering, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, anti-allergy, anti-depressant painkiller! (Almost in that order, too.) It's like all the benefits of chai, except you can stick it and a dollop of sweetened winter squash and milk into your coffee for a pumpkin spice latte.

(Instructions for how to easily cook winter squash—and ways to make that pie latte—will be forthcoming. Assuming y'all want those instructions?)

But wait—what if you have no idea what some of those ingredients even are? What if you just want to mix up something that'll work from what's in your cabinet?

Then you make the Bare Bones Version!

Bare Bones Version of Pie Spice:

This makes about 1 tablespoon of spice blend.

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, nutmeg, or mace
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice (or one you didn't use already from the previous list)
• dash ground pepper (whatever you have)

Keep the pepper because it will help the flavor pop and (per some home remedy folks) will boost the efficacy of whichever spices you use.

You can adjust things based on what you have in the cabinet and what you can and can't eat, of course, but now you have a starting point for coming up with your own personal blend! (Or you can just copy mine. That's fine, too.)

What are your preferred spices for the holiday season?

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*All links marked with an asterisk are affiliate links. I only become an affiliate for vendors or products that I recommend from personal experience. What happens is I find myself recommending to people, then realize there's an affiliate program, so I figure I might as well join up.

Do you have a story of unexpected herb effect? An opinion on my experiences or recipe? A question on herbs as medicine? Something you want to hear about making? Ask! I'm not the only person I know who does this kitchen remedy stuff, so if I don't know or make that item, someone else I knows probably does.

—M

Vanilla Saffron Snickerdoodles

by Misti Wolanski

Note: This recipe contains notes in italics for aspects that the author has had people inquire about, before. All measurements are US.

Alert: Due to the qualities of vanilla and saffron, the cookies can have a sedative effect, helping a person calm or fall asleep, and they can also be a mood booster. Cinnamon contains an oil that reduces blood sugar spikes, and chia seed—if you use that type of egg replacer—can slow digestion of the sugar.

Or so’s my understanding from my research. I’m not a medical professional, my statements have not been evaluated by the FDA, and you should use your own discretion on that. :-)

Ingredients

• 1 egg equivalent^* or egg
  ^*recommended: 1 tablespoon chia seed or 2 teaspoons chia flour + ¼ cup milk, buttermilk, or water; author purchases white chia seed flour from nuts.com
  alternative: 1 tablespoon flax seed or 2 teaspoons flax meal + ¼ cup milk, buttermilk, or water;
• ±20 saffron threads^{*

  *}recommended: buying online, or even on ebay.com

  can be increased to 30 threads; 1 teaspoon of ground safflower may be substituted
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

  if you use salted butter, halve the salt below
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 2 cups all-purpose flour^{*
  *}for gluten-free: add 1 teaspoon xanthan gum and 1 teaspoon guar gum; if you only have xanthan gum, use 2 teaspoons, but your texture will be affected
  recommended gluten-free all-purpose flour: by Bob’s Red Mill or from nuts.com
• 4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder^{*

  *}alternative: ¾ teaspoon baking soda & 1¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
 author usually uses Himalayan pink salt

Directions

Start making any egg replacer now. (To make: in a custard cup or other small dish, mix the chia seed flour with the liquid and stir well. Stir it well every so often while working on the rest. It’ll eventually get gooey like a scrambled egg, but if you add it to the saucepan below, you don’t need to wait that long.)

Crush or grind the saffron. (The finer you grind it, the more flavor it’ll put in the cookies. A mortar and pestle help, but you can also stick it between parchment or wax paper and roll over it with a cup or rolling pin.)

Put the saffron in saucepan with vanilla, butter, molasses. Melt on low and allow to stay on warm while continuing recipe. (Chia egg replacer can go in here, but you’ll still need to stir it, every so often. Remove from heat if milk starts bubbling.)

In separate bowl, put all remaining ingredients (which should all be dry). Mix well.

Add saucepan contents to bowl. Mix until smooth. (If you prefer a particular texture at this point, you can adjust with flour to make it denser, or water/milk/buttermilk to make it softer.)

Chill batter for at least 3 hours. (You can bake them after 1 hour, but it’ll work better if you wait.)

Preheat the oven to ±350°F.

Roll into balls and drop onto a cookie sheet. (A spoon helps pry chunks of dough from the chilled bulk. Greasing the sheet is unnecessary.)

Bake for ±15 minutes or until they get the golden tint to the degree you desire. Carefully move them to racks to cool. (They’ll be very soft and crumbly at first, then solidify as they cool.)

Enjoy!

This recipe was inspired by the one found here: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/saffronvanilla-snickerdoodles-recipe.html.

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*All links marked with an asterisk are affiliate links. I only become an affiliate for vendors or products that I recommend from personal experience. What happens is I find myself recommending to people, then realize there's an affiliate program, so I figure I might as well join up.

Do you have a story of unexpected herb effect? An opinion on my experiences or recipe? A question on herbs as medicine? Something you want to hear about making? Ask! I'm not the only person I know who does this kitchen remedy stuff, so if I don't know or make that item, someone else I knows probably does.

—M