Pumpkin Butter

Well instead of carving my pumpkin, I roasted it. I was never great at carving pumpkins anyway. My sisters always did the designing and actual carving. I probably just watched and ate lots of candy. I used a smaller pumpkin to make the pumpkin butter. Ideally you want to find a pie pumpkin which has more flesh and a higher sugar content. Normal pumpkins work too, though.

1/2 small pumpkin
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cinnamon stick
5 cloves

To roast the pumpkin: Cut a ring around the stem and remove. Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out all of the seeds and the stringy business. Place the pumpkin cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake for about 1/2 hour at 375 degrees. The pumpkin is done when you can pierce the flesh easily with a fork. Let the pumpkin cool. Then using a spoon, scoop out the flesh into a blender or food processor. Blend until it forms a smooth puree. I only used half a pumpkin since I only wanted about 1 pint of pumpkin butter. Feel free to use all of it! I used the other half to make the pumpkin snickerdoodles : )


To cook the pumpkin butter:
Pour the pumpkin puree into a crock pot with the cinnamon stick and the cloves. Heat on low for about 12 hours. Leave the lid on partially and stir every couple hours. After 12 hours, take out the cinnamon stick and cloves. Add the pumpkin pie spice, salt, and sugar and mix to incorporate. Start with smaller amounts of sugar and spice and increase as necessary. Store in a clean mason jar for about 1 month (ours won't even last that long) in the refrigerator.

Alternatively, you can cook this on the stove on low for a couple hours but don't like the constant stirring that requires. It is a faster method, though.

I've been eating the pumpkin butter on waffles, toast, and apples! I have some ideas to make pumpkin butter swirl ice cream too.