Homemade Gingerbread Spice Mix
This homemade Gingerbread Spice is perfect for holiday baking projects, as a DIY gift idea, sprinkling atop oatmeal, and more. Making your own spice blend is more affordable than buying it pre-made, plus you get to customize the flavor profile so your gingerbread concoctions taste just how you like them!
Skip the Store-Bought Stuff and Make Your Own Gingerbread Spice Blend at Home
Around the holidays, gingerbread spice doesn’t last long in my house. From baking traditional gingerbread men to sprinkling it over my morning bowl of oats, it sneaks its way into pretty much everything I prepare.
Here’s why making your own gingerbread spice mix is so great:
✔ Tastes Just How *You* Like It: Store-bought blends each have differing ratios of spices, which means that your batches of gingerbread will always taste slightly different even if you use the exact same recipe! Making gingerbread spice mix from scratch ensures that your baked goods come out tasting exactly how you want them to, every time.
✔ Nostalgic Holiday Flavor: When mixed together, the blend of spices tastes warm, fragrant, and slightly spicy. It definitely has a ginger overtone to it — no surprise there! It’s a difficult spice blend to describe because it’s a complex flavor.
✔ Scale This Recipe Up or Down: If you need the gingerbread spice blend for just one or two recipes this season, you can scale down the batch to avoid having leftovers on hand until the next holiday season.
Happy Holidays!
-Katie
Tools You’ll Need
Making homemade spice blends is very easy and can be done with just a whisk and a bowl. However, I recommend getting a few extra kitchen tools to make preparing and storing the spice blend easier.
- Measuring spoons — Don’t eyeball the ingredient ratios, measure them correctly!
- Whisk — You can also use a fork, in a pinch.
- Mixing bowl — You’ll need a small mixing bowl for this recipe.
- Funnel — Foolproof way to transfer the spice blend to a jar.
- Storage container — I prefer using small mason jars or spice jars to store my homemade seasonings, but any airtight container will work.
What Spices Are in This Gingerbread Blend?
This homemade gingerbread seasoning uses my tried and true blend of spices. I’ve provided exact measurements in the recipe card below, but here are the spices you’ll need.
- Ground ginger
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground cloves
- Ground allspice
- Ground nutmeg
- Ground black pepper
- Ground cardamom
Katie’s Tip: Give your spices a whiff to make sure they’re all still “fresh” (i.e. have a strong scent). If any of the spices have a very weak smell, chances are they’ve been sitting in your pantry for too long and need to be replaced.
Recipe Tips
- Use whole spices, if possible — For the best possible flavor, buy whole spices (cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, whole nutmeg, etc.) and grind them using a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder. The flavor of your gingerbread seasoning will end up being much more potent!
- Use freshly ground black pepper, if possible — It has so much more flavor than the pre-ground stuff, but of course use whichever is easier for you.
- Store in an airtight container — This helps seal in the flavors and keeps the seasoning blend fresh.
- Make only as much as you need — Don’t make a batch so large that you won’t use it all before it gets old and the flavor becomes less potent.
Storage Instructions
Store your homemade gingerbread seasoning in an airtight container. This will keep it “fresh” and prevent the flavor from leaching out.
Store the jar in a cool, dry place. Direct exposure to sunlight will bleach the spices and make them less potent so don’t place them next to a window.
Homemade gingerbread spice will last up to 1 year so long as the spices aren’t exposed to water. However, over time you’ll notice that the smell of the gingerbread spices will dramatically decrease. This means the spice blend has gone “bad” — i.e. it’s lost a lot of flavor and isn’t very strong.
Ways to Use Gingerbread Spice Mix
Have fun experimenting with your homemade gingerbread seasoning this winter! Although it’s perfect for making gingerbread (duh!), it works well in many kinds of recipes.
- Make gingerbread caramels
- Add warmth and flavor to chocolate gingerbread cake or chocolate gingerbread cookies
- Mix into cranberry muffin batter
- Rim winter drinks like apple cider and mulled wine (combine 3 tablespoons sugar + 1.5 teaspoons spice mix)
- Flavor your favorite waffles or pancakes
- Use it any time a recipe calls for pumpkin pie spice
- Add gingerbread flavor to desserts like brownies, blondies, and vanilla cupcakes
- Sprinkle the top of your vanilla ice cream
- Add to a mug of hot chocolate
- Sprinkle into your morning coffee
- Create a winter simmer pot (add dried orange slices and 1-2 teaspoons gingerbread spice to a pot of water to simmer and scent your house!)
Gingerbread Recipes to Make with This Spice Blend
Love making your own spice blends? Check out all of my homemade seasonings and spice blends in the Recipe Index. Below are some of my favorite recipes to make using this gingerbread spice recipe.
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Gingerbread Spice Recipe
Homemade Gingerbread Spice is perfect for holiday baking projects, as a DIY gift idea, sprinkling atop oatmeal, and more. Plus, it’s so easy to customize!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ground ginger
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
Instructions
- Add the spices to a medium sized mixing bowl and mix together until well combined. I like to use a wire whisk to do this. Or, you can sift the spices together with a mesh strainer or flour sifter.
- Store your homemade gingerbread seasoning in an airtight container for up to 1 year. This will keep it “fresh” and prevent the flavor from leaching out.
Try Making Your Own Gingerbread Spice Mix!
Did You Try This Recipe? I’d love to hear how it turned out! Leave a comment and a review below—your feedback helps others and makes my day.
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Rita Milo says
Can you email the complete list of spices and ratios for gingerbread spice? Thank you.
Katie Kick says
Hi Rita, you will find all of that info in the free printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.