As used in making pies around Christmas, initially? (5)
I believe the answer is:
spice
'as' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both substances as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'making pies around christmas initially?' is the wordplay.
'making' indicates an anagram.
'around' is an insertion indicator.
'initially?' indicates taking the first letters (I've seen 'initially' mean this).
The first letter of 'christmas' is 'c'.
'pies' with letters rearranged gives 'spie'.
'spie' going around 'c' is 'SPICE'.
'used in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for spice that I've seen before include "eg Mace, ginger, Posh" , "It creates added interest" , "Pungent flavouring" , "Aromatic flavouring" , "Pungent substance to flavour food" .)