One of my favorite foods of Fall is pumpkin. I was making pumpkin cookies and roasting pumpkin seeds when I was growing up, many years before they popped up on every food blog. But that was the extent of my cooking with pumpkin.
At least until these last few years, as I’ve gotten creative and started using pumpkin for many recipes. After all, pumpkin puree is similar to apple sauce, or so that’s my way of thinking.
You can only imagine how happy I was when I first heard of pumpkin butter! Yes, I said Pumpkin. Butter. It reminds me of everything Fall….pumpkin and all the spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and ground cloves, which are used in many recipes this time of year. I love these spices and this pumpkin butter is bursting with that robust Fall flavor. You can always cut the spice measurements in half if you want a more subtle taste of the spices.
It has a similar consistency to that of apple butter. So if you love apple butter, then you’re going to flip over pumpkin butter. It’s a one of a kind pumpkin experience!
Now you can always take the easy way out and purchase a ten ounce jar from Trader Joe’s for about $10.00. Or you can make your own, like I do, for much less. The best part being that it has no added preservatives, no granulated sugar, or salt and you can spice it up and sweeten it to your liking.
It also makes for great gifts for the upcoming Holidays (yes, that time of year is knocking on the door), as you can get creative personalizing the jars. Mason jars work great for this as they come in different sizes and have that old fashioned, rustic look.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. After all, Fall has just arrived and there’s still time to enjoy the leaves falling on these cool, sunny days while picking out pumpkins in the pumpkin patch with your kids and finding your way through the corn mazes.
Of course after your breakfast of pumpkin butter on your morning toast {smile}.
Pumpkin Butter
Makes about 1 pint
Ingredients
1 – 14.5 ounce can pumpkin puree
1/3 cup sweet Apple Cider (not apple juice or apple concentrate)
¾ cup honey
1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
Dash of nutmeg
Directions
Combine all ingredients into a medium saucepan. Over medium heat, bring to a boil, stirring continuously.
Once mixture starts boiling, turn down to Low heat, cover, and let simmer for 2 and ½ hours, stirring occasionally. Sauce will thicken as it cooks so cooking time depends upon how thick you desire it to be.
Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature before storing in refrigerator.
Store in an airtight container in your refrigerator up to 1 month.
Makes a great topping for toast and bagels.
*Helpful Hints*
- This recipe does not taste the same with other sugars. I just made a batch with coconut sugar and it had a completely different taste. This recipe is intended to be made only with honey.
- All measurements are US
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