Fill your home with the delightful scent of fall spices when you make this easy homemade pumpkin butter, a delicious topping perfect for gifting. It pairs well with everything from oatmeal and yogurt to breads and cookies.
Mix together the pumpkin purée, spices, vanilla extract, and sugar, along with the juice from half a lemon in a pan over low heat.
Blend with an immersion blender until all of the ingredients are combined and smooth.
Simmer for 10-20 minutes, stirring occasionally with a spatula to prevent it from burning. The cooking time will depend on the water content of your pumpkin puree and how thick you want the final pumpkin butter to be.
Taste the pumpkin butter and make any adjustments (like adding more spices, sugar, or lemon juice) to suit your taste.
Once the mixture has reduced and thickened, remove it from the heat. It should continue to thicken slightly as it cools.
Allow it cool, and store in a jar in the fridge.
Enjoy!
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Notes
How to Store Leftovers
Store unused pumpkin butter in a jar or other airtight container in the fridge. Depending upon the amount of water left in the finished butter (and the amount of added sugar), it should keep for two to three weeks or up to a month. Toss it when you notice a change in the appearance, scent, or flavor. You should not attempt to can pumpkin butter. Instead, for longer storage, freeze leftovers in small portions. It stores very well in the freezer, for up to a year.
Ways to Enjoy Pumpkin Butter
Pumpkin butter is delicious as a spread on toast, biscuits, pancakes, muffins, waffles, and many other foods. It can also be used as a dip for fruits such as apple slices or bananas. When paired with yogurt, pumpkin butter makes a wonderful breakfast treat. Try making a pumpkin spice parfait by layering pumpkin butter, yogurt, and sprinkling on some granola or pecans. Another delicious use for pumpkin butter is to add it to oatmeal or other types of porridge.
Customizing the recipe
While I prefer using freshly roasted pumpkins for this, you may try using canned pumpkin puree instead to save time.For sweetening this recipe, try using other sweeteners like coconut sugar, organic demerara sugar, maple syrup, or honey. While you can use non-caloric sweeteners like stevia, the pumpkin butter won't keep as long (and won't have the same flavor).Another way to alter the recipe to suit your taste is to increase or reduce the amount of sweetener. Keep in mind that the more sugar you add, the longer the pumpkin butter will keep.The spice blend can also be customized to suit your taste. Try using a pre-made pumpkin spice mix or a combination of various spices such as cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and/or cloves. Adjust the spices chosen and the amounts used to get the flavor you're craving.For a less tangy pumpkin butter, don't add lemon juice.