This post is sponsored by McCormick®, however, all opinions are my own.

As adults and as parents it can seem like we’re so far from our childhoods, however, some of my favorite memories as a kid, include me waking up early on holidays eagerly anticipating the arrival of our family members coming from out of town (and my grandma’s macaroni and cheese that we would no doubt have for dinner).

There was absolutely no doubt, that no matter what time dinner was supposed to start, I could always count on it starting at least two hours later. However, my mom always made sure that we had a holiday brunch-fest, which included all of our breakfast favorites in a casserole that we could eat that morning.

Of course, mom always prepped her special holiday breakfast the night before–there was no way she was going to let the oven be occupied for any reason outside of preparing dinner.

As for my household, I recently learned how my Isla absolutely loves pumpkin pie. Which being from the south there is the endless pumpkin vs. sweet potato pie debates. This year for Thanksgiving she wanted to make her very first pumpkin pie as a special treat for my mom who has a birthday that falls on Thanksgiving this year (and my parent’s 40th wedding anniversary the day before).

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Isla wanted to add a new twist to her pumpkin pie by making it a cinnamon pumpkin pie! The first thing we did was head to the store and grab all of our ingredients. Since her “special super-secret” ingredient was cinnamon, we couldn’t forget the McCormick® Ground Cinnamon, Ground Nutmeg, Pure Vanilla Extract or Pumpkin Spice, all of which we were able to find at our local Walmart! It’s also the perfect place to purchase all of your McCormick® Extracts, Gravy, and Herbs & Spices. For the holiday season!

We prefer McCormick® Ground  Cinnamon because it lends a warm, sweet aroma and sunny character to everything from morning toast and cinnamon rolls to spiced cookies.

The entire process of making the pie from scratch, combining the ingredients was so much fun! Now that she can read, she did not need much help from me at all! This was her very first time making anything outside of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich and I was so proud. Because of it, I’ve thought that this would be a great tradition for our family to allow each of the kids to make their favorite dish or dessert for our holiday meals.

Ingredients

1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Ground Cinnanamon

1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pumpkin Pie Spice

Dash of McCormick® Ground Nutmeg (just a tiny dash!)

1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract

1 cup of sugar

4 teaspoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin

1 cup whole milk

1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches)

Whipped cream in a can, optional

First, you take a small bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cinnamon. Next, in a large bowl you combine the eggs, pumpkin and sugar mixture. Gradually stir in milk. Pour into pastry shell.

Bake at 375° 45-50 minutes longer or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Top with whipped cream if desired. Refrigerate leftovers.