Homemade Pumpkin Butter
I got a bug up my butt to make pumpkin butter without any refined sugar. I LOVE pumpkin butter. So much so that I bought 12 jars of it last year at Trader Joes so that I wouldn’t run out when it went out of season. That may have been overkill as I still have 6 jars in my cupboard. The second ingredient in that pumpkin butter is sugar-BOO! Before I embarked on my “clean” pumpkin butter I did a TON of research. I probably looked at 50 recipes before putting mine together. As you know my first batch was an big huge FAIL-too many spices. My second batch, however, is DELICIOUS!
Ingredients:
3 Sugar Pumpkins (or 40 ounces of canned pumpkin though it won’t be as flavorful)
1 Cup Agave Nectar
1/3 Cup Honey
1/3 Cup Maple Syrup
1 Cup Apple Juice
1 TBSP Cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
1/8 tsp Nutmeg
Zest of 1 Meyer Lemon
Juice of 1 Meyer Lemon
2 tsp Vanilla
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350*. Wash pumpkins well. De-stem and cut in half. Scoop out guts-I found that the scoop you get in carving pumpkin kits works the best.
Place pumpkins face down on a foil lined cookie sheet and cover with foil.
Bake in oven until soft. ~1.5 hours.
When pumpkins are cooled, scoop out the insides and discard the skin.
Run it through the food processor in batches to get pumpkin puree.
Place pumpkin puree, agave, honey, syrup, apple juice, lemon zest and juice, and all spices EXCEPT the vanilla in a crock pot and stir WELL. Alternately you can do this on the stove and bring it to a low simmer and stir it often and WATCH it.
Cover with a splatter guard or put the lid on half way. If you leave the lid on it won’t reduce because the steam will be trapped in the pot.
Splatter guard (preferred):
Lid:
Then cook:
On high for 4 hours:
Then on low for another 2 or so hours:
Stirring occasionally. Some people just put it on low and let it go overnight or while they’re at work. That made me nervous and I wanted to stir it so I did it while I was home.
Once it’s to a consistency you like, place it in a container and store overnight in the fridge.
The next day, run it through a food processor again and add the vanilla.
ENJOY!
*Please Note: Some recipes out there will tell you that you can put pumpkin butter in a warm bath to can it and that it will be good for up to a year. The USDA does NOT recommend canning pumpkin butter-it does not keep well and can grow dangerous bacteria. It can however be kept in the freezer up to 1 year and in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks.
Lucy gave it 2 thumbs up!
Category: Recipes 12 comments »
November 20th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Awesome! I’m saving this recipe for sure because the one I made last year didn’t hold a candle to TJ’s.
Speaking of TJ’s, if you want to send me those extra 6 jars, I will gobble them down!!
November 20th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
OMG!!! This recipe is amazing! I’m going to make this. Thanks!
November 20th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
WOW how awesome, I would love to try this!
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:11 am
Thanks for the recipe. I’ve made pumpkin butter before, but it had much more refined sugar. I made your recipe yesterday with the last of my CSA pumpkins and it is delicious.
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:53 am
I’m so glad you liked it!!!
December 8th, 2009 at 7:56 am
[...] the local Beard Papa (we JUST got one in San Mateo) for some cream puffs. I may take in some pumpkin butter but I can’t figure out what to take with the pumpkin butter that is [...]
December 11th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Thank you so much for this again! Will definitely try your recipe when I get my hands on a pumpkin!
December 19th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
[...] version ANYWHERE-I even asked the yogurt lady at Whole Paycheck. I just mixed a little of my pumpkin butter in with some Greek yogurt. It’s pretty good but I bet it’s not as good as the real [...]
January 5th, 2010 at 9:18 am
[...] These puppies will be good for at least another year, BUT, I’ve got a freezer full of my own YUMMY pumpkin butter. So you get to enjoy the [...]
January 24th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
[...] had peanut butter and pumpkin butter (YOM) on [...]
January 29th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
[...] we got home, I had a piece of toast with peanut butter, pumpkin butter, and cranberry [...]
February 4th, 2010 at 9:18 am
[...] I topped the toast with some of my pumpkin butter. [...]