With Christmas around the corner, and temperatures dropping rapidly, it’s time to get baking. But when it comes to Christmas food, everyone has an opinion, so here’s a round-up of our top six spice essentials to ensure that everything that goes into your oven comes out a crowd-pleaser.
The 6 Spices You Need this Christmas
Ready to get started? Let’s dive straight in:
Cinnamon
With its distinctive smell, cinnamon will always occupy the top spot and is used in gingerbread, mince pie, and even eggnog recipes. It’s also essential for those more-ish Christmas morning cinnamon buns and stovetop potpourri.
Nutmeg
Whether making a batch of eggnog or perfecting your family’s gingerbread recipe, you’ll need to put nutmeg on the list. This spice harmonizes beautifully with cinnamon, helping to balance and intensify the flavor profile of your recipe.
Star Anise
Known to soothe the stomach, star anise is an all-around star performer. It’s used as a Christmas spice in cookies, honey cakes and gingerbread. Just keep in mind that a little goes a long way!
Ginger
This versatile spice makes its way into a number of traditional Christmas favorites, including cookies, gingerbread biscuits, and hot ginger and lemon tea (to help with digestion after your Christmas Day family meal!)
Cloves
Love them or hate them; no Christmas would be complete without cloves. You’ll need cloves for pumpkin spice scones, traditional spice cookies and more. They have a very strong taste, so when baking with cloves, less really is more.
Allspice
From cookies to eggnog and pumpkin pie to spice cake, allspice is the secret ingredient that will lift the flavor of any Christmas baking recipe.
Make Your Own Christmas Spice
This gingerbread spice mix can be tweaked for your family, and don’t forget to add your own secret ingredients (such as vanilla or anise).
Ingredients:
- 2 teaspoons of ginger
- 3 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of allspice
- 1/2 a teaspoon of nutmeg
- 1/2 s teaspoon of cardamom
- 1 teaspoon of cloves
Method:
Mix the dry ingredients together and store the spice blend in an airtight jar.
In Conclusion
From ground cinnamon to ginger, you’re all set for a Christmas to remember. With cookies cooling on a rack, the scent of cinnamon in the air, and Michael Bublé crooning in the background, you have the perfect recipe for a holiday season filled with happy family memories.
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