Pumpkin butter is a great way to celebrate the fall and winter season. You can’t beat the cozy flavor of warm spices and pumpkin smeared on a warm, toasty slice of homemade bread or scone.
Pumpkin butter is kind of a cousin to apple butter, in my opinion.
Both butters are a warm, cozy spread that compliments the fall and winter seasons.
There is something about the ‘warm spices’ that really feels like they warm you up from the inside out.
This butter is a great thing to make when the pumpkins (or squash, but don’t tell) are available in abundance.
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The pumpkin
For this recipe, you of course, are going to need pumpkin.
You can buy a can of pumpkin at the store if you want, grab a 15 ounce can. Just be sure that it is not pumpkin pie filling!
However, if you want the flavor of this pumpkin butter to be WAY better, I suggest making your own homemade pumpkin puree.
To make pumpkin puree you can use a pumpkin or even some types of squash.
When choosing a pumpkin to make into recipes, opt for sugar pumpkins or pie pumpkins when available because these are the most tender and flavorful.
They are smaller, but also will be less stringy.
Any type of pumpkins work (as long as they’re edible!) for making puree, though.
If you are going to use squash to make ‘pumpkin puree’, the best options are butternut, buttercup, acorn, or kabocha squash.
My favorite for making pumpkin puree is the butternut and buttercup because they are very flavorful and sweet tasting. They are also dense and quite hard making the puree very thick instead of watery like some pumpkin varieties can be.
Making pumpkin puree
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Grease a baking sheet or glass cake pan.
Cut your squash or pumpkin in half and scoop the seeds out using a spoon.
Lay the cut side of the pumpkin down on the greased baking sheet.
Bake for one hour. Make sure the pumpkin or squash is done by flipping it so the flesh side is up and poking the flesh with a fork. It should be soft.
Remove from the oven and let it cool.
When you can handle the pumpkin, scoop the flesh out of the peel and place it in a blender.
Blend until it is a smooth puree.
How to make pumpkin butter
- 2 cups pumpkin puree or 1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
To a heavy bottomed saucepan, add all of the ingredients except the vanilla extract.
Whisk together and bring to a boil over high heat.
Lower heat to medium and cook for 10-15 minutes until it becomes quite thick, making sure to stir so that the pumpkin butter does not burn.
Take the saucepan off of the heat. Let it cool slightly before adding vanilla extract.
Serve warm or cool for later.
How to use pumpkin butter
Use pumpkin butter on anything you would jelly, such as on toasted bread, bagels, scones, french toast, or English muffins.
Here are a few other ideas that would be amazing.
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Butter Cookies
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
- Pumpkin Crescent Rolls with Cream Cheese
- Yogurt Pumpkin Parfait
- Carmel Pumpkin Ice Cream Sundae
- Pumpkin Spice Latte
- Pumpkin Whipped Cream
- Pumpkin Pecan Oatmeal
Recipe notes
If you don’t have maple syrup, you can substitute in 1/3 cup of brown sugar, raw sugar, coconut sugar, white sugar, or honey.
To add even more fall flavor, you can substitute apple cider for the water (not apple cider vinegar, though:).
Don’t have pumpkin spice? Just add 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon cloves, 1/8 teaspoon ginger and 1/8 allspice.
If you don’t have all of those different spices handy, just use 1 and a half teaspoons of cinnamon.
Like a sweeter pumpkin butter? Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup of maple syrup to make it even sweeter.
A sweeter pumpkin butter would be good to add to coffee.
How to store pumpkin butter for longer
This pumpkin butter will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. Just make sure that you store the butter in an airtight container such as a mason jar with a lid.
If you want to make enough pumpkin butter to last through the fall and winter, you can multiply this recipe.
It is not recommend canning pumpkin, however, you can freeze this butter for later.
Simply fill clean, sterilized jelly jars with pumpkin butter, making sure to leave 1/2 inch head space in the jar. Screw a lid onto the jar tightly.
Store in the freezer for up to one year.
Pumpkin Butter
Ingredients
- 2 cups pumpkin puree or 1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- To a heavy bottomed saucepan, add all of the ingredients except the vanilla extract.
- Whisk together and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Lower heat to medium and cook for 10-15 minutes until it becomes quite thick, making sure to stir so that the pumpkin butter does not burn.
- Take the saucepan off of the heat. Let it cool slightly before adding vanilla extract.
- Serve warm or cool for later.
Notes
Pin it for later!
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Did you try this pumpkin butter?
How did you and your loved ones like it? What are your favorite ways to use pumpkin butter?
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