The Dominican Republic has a great version of pumpkin to make deserts from, here it is called Auyama. However finding pumpkin pie spice can be a little tougher. Usually you can find it in the spice section of the larger stores like La Sirena, Jumbo and Nacional, but not all of us live near one of the larger towns that have those supermarkets. That shouldn’t stop you from making your favorite pumpkin desert.

There are 4 ingredients to pumpkin pie spice and all of them are usually available in the “super mercados” found in most of the smaller towns. You can usually find a metal display rack with small 2-5 oz packets of different spices in most of the local supermarkets. Often they have the spices in powdered form but quite frequently you only find the “unpowdered” full cloves, stick cinnamon, nutmeg balls, etc. That means you pull out the old grater and pestle and mortar (Pilon in the Dominican Republic) to grind up your spices. Also, you may have to crush up a little fresh ginger to use as you need it.

Here is the recipe for Pumpkin Pie spice:

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

An alternate recipe calls for adding 1/4 teaspoon allspice.

If you are planning on making a larger amount of Pumpkin Pie Spice and storing it you are going to need to completely dry out the fresh ginger. Once you have it to a mush form you can place it out flat on a plate and dry it in the oven. Warm up the oven and turn off and then place the plate in the oven overnight. Once dry you will need to finish powdering the ginger. It can now be added to your mixture and stored in an air tight container. You can also brush off the salt from a cracker and place in your container to absorb the moisture that will inevitable enter the container each time you use it.