Homemade pumpkin butter tastes as good as it sounds.  Rich, creamy, and loaded with warm autumn spices.  Spread homemade pumpkin butter on your favorite Autumn treat or  morning toast for a heart warming treat. 

Have you visited your local pumpkin patch or picked up a few pumpkins at the market?  We added lots of pumpkins to our front porch and I plan to leave them there until Thanksgiving.  The colors are perfect for Autumn and I am particularly drawn to the muted gray and peach color.

This time of year my baking centers around apples and pumpkin.  I always challenge myself to come up with different ways to incorporate Autumn flavors into the menu.

Last weekend I made homemade pumpkin butter and I’m so excited to share the recipe with you! Even if you aren’t a huge fan of cooked pumpkin, if you like pumpkin pie, you’ll love the taste of homemade pumpkin butter.  It’s less dense than pumpkin pie and  has all those yummy, warm spices that feel so comforting.  This should actually be called spiced pumpkin butter because it contains such a variety of autumn spices.

It’s so tasty and super easy to make especially if you don’t have a lot of time and are craving something homemade. I think I’ll make a batch and fill my favorite jars, place in a cellophane gift bags , add a soft, velvet bow and gift to my friends and family!

If you are so inclined, slice and bake a sugar pie pumpkin to make your own puree.  I have to say though that in this particular recipe it’s not really necessary to do that.  Save yourself some time and make it easy on yourself.  Go with the canned pumpkin ~ not pumpkin pie mix, just canned puree.  Easy, peasy. Here’s what I use for homeade pumpkin butter and pumpkin pie.

What you’ll need to have on hand to make homemade pumpkin butter:

• canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
• apple cider (try homemade)
• maple syrup
• brown sugar
• pumpkin pie spice (my recipe)
• cinnamon for garnish

As you can see, the ingredient list is fairly simple and you probably have most of these items already.  So all you need to do is put all of these ingredients in a small pot and allow to simmer until thick and creamy. Feel free to use maple syrup, honey, brown sugar or a combination.  I like to make things healthy-ish so I don’t add too much sugar.  It’s up to you to decide how much sweetness you’ll need.  It’s good to know that unadulterated cooked pumpkin is a ‘health food’ filled with lots of fiber and vitamins.  When we sugar-it-up it becomes less healthy.  That said, make sure that you don’t get too hung up on the health factor.  You want people and the especially the kiddos to like it right?

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