Swapped allspice for cinnamon in my apple pie and it was a total win

I was testing out new fall recipes last weekend and decided to compare my usual heavy allspice approach against one that uses mostly Saigon cinnamon from Penzeys. The cinnamon pie was way more balanced, let the apples shine, and got better feedback from my Sunday baking group. Anyone else find certain spices just work better on specific fruits?

3 comments

3 Comments

jones.anna9d ago

Learned that one the hard way making apple butter last fall.

iris5741mo ago

... and here I am still trying to figure out how I managed to swap salt for sugar in my pumpkin bread last week. You'd think after twenty years of baking I'd learn to read the labels, but nope, my taste buds got a real surprise that morning. That cinnamon trick sounds genius though, I've been going too heavy on the cloves lately and my pies end up tasting like a holiday candle.

oliviat171mo ago

Wait, did you catch it before you took a bite or was it a full-on surprise crunch? I've done that with salt in cookies before and it's rough because you can't really fix it after they're baked. Twenty years is a lot of practice but those labels really do start blending together after a while. What kind of pumpkin bread recipe do you usually use? I'm wondering if swapping the cloves for a tiny bit of cardamom might help balance things out without going full candle mode.