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Use this homemade gingerbread spice blend to infuse cakes, cookies, and holiday beverages with a delicious, festive flavor.
Gingerbread spice imparts such a distinctive aromatic flavor to any holiday dessert, baked good, or pastry treat. Although it contains many of the same ingredients as pumpkin spice, the ratio of ingredients used is completely different, and this spicy, fragrant blend really has a distinct flavor profile perfect for Christmas baking. Compare your homemade pumpkin spice blend with this homemade gingerbread spice recipe, and you’ll see that one smells perfectly autumnal while the other one immediately makes you think, “Christmas time is here!” Use this spice mix to make the perfect gingerbread cookies or a gingerbread loaf cake this Holiday season, or get creative and whisk it into syrup for homemade lattes, shortbread, pancakes, 3-ingredient pumpkin bread, or even chocolate chip cookies for a cheery, seasonal take on classic family favorite recipes.
More popular spice blends you can make at home: Homemade Seasoning Blends and Dry Mixes to Stock Your Pantry
Ingredients Needed for the Homemade Gingerbread Spice Blend
You’ll need:
- Powdered ginger
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground allspice
- Ground cloves
- Ground nutmeg
- Black peppercorns
You may find that you already have a lot of these ingredients in the back of your spice cabinet or pantry and if you do, this is a great way to use spices up before they start to get old and lose their flavor. I love that you can customize spice blends to your own tastes as well when you make your own and skip the store bought versions. If you find you’re missing one or two things, but don’t want to buy a whole new bottle of a certain spice, try buying just exactly what you need at your local bulk foods store to cut down on waste and clutter.
Favorite spiced holiday cookies: Soft and Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookie Recipe
Preparing the Gingerbread Spice
Measure out all the different spices by the tablespoon and teaspoon into a small bowl. If you plan to bake a lot of gingerbread this holiday season, feel free to use a larger bowl and double or triple the recipe.
Stir all the ingredients together and keep mixing until you have a smooth, even spice blend mixture.
Festive Christmas cookies to add to your baking plans: Cranberry Orange Shortbread
Transfer the spice mix to an airtight container or jar using a funnel or spoon. Store the mixture in a room-temperature, dark spot such as your spice cabinet or pantry. You should always try to use ground spices up within one to two years, so it’s best to make only as much gingerbread spice as you’ll need for one or two holiday seasons.
Cozy, comforting muffins for Christmas morning: Brown-Sugar Oatmeal Muffin Recipe
Here’s the full, printable recipe. Print it out to store in your recipe binder, or use it right from the website on your phone or tablet.
Don’t forget to pin this recipe to Pinterest so you’ll have it when you need it!
Use this homemade gingerbread spice blend to infuse cakes, cookies, and holiday beverages with a delicious, festive flavor.
- 2 tbsp Ground ginger
- 2 tbsp Ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp Ground allspice
- 1 tbsp Ground cloves
- 1 tsp Ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp Freshly ground black pepper
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Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix until all the spices are well distributed into a smooth, even mixture.
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Store the spice mixture in an airtight container, such as a glass jar, in a cool, dark area. Use the spice mix up with one to two years for maximum freshness.
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.