Oh I have something delicious for you to try. I love, love fall and all the flavors that go with it. Pumpkin is one of my most favorite things though and this recipe is full of pumpkin-y goodness and so simple to make! It is a lovely gift idea and compliments so many different things- french bread, cakes, waffles/pancakes, oatmeal or even just spread on a cracker. My girls love this in lunchboxes- either spread on a sandwich or I put a small container of pumpkin butter and a few slices of french bread to dip. Just delicious!
I have tried numerous ways to make pumpkin butter- typically it is spices, pumpkin puree, water or apple juice and either white or brown sugar.
I tend to prefer the flavors of apple cider and brown sugar so I have tried many times making pumpkin butter with those ingredients but I come back to plain old white sugar and water with a hint of citrus over and over again.
So here is the recipe I tend to like the best- you can adjust this a little to suit your tastes. Add slightly more sugar for a sweeter pumpkin butter- I try to use the least amount of sugar that I can (even though this recipe still calls for quite a bit) so I got it down to 1 cup but you can add as much as 1 1/2 cups to suit your taste.
Also I really like the zip of acidity to my pumpkin butter that comes from orange or lemon. You might reduce this a tiny bit to suit your taste.
- 29oz Pumpkin Puree
- 1 cup white sugar
- ¾ cup water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- zest of one lemon
- 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- To make the pumpkin butter is super simple- just add all the ingredients into a pan on the stove over high heat.
- Bring to a gentle boil- stirring constantly to avoid burning the pumpkin.
- After one minute or so, reduce heat and simmer about 30 minutes.
- Stir occasionally to keep from burning.
- Remove from heat and store in a container in the fridge.
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Now a few notes on this recipe. I think orange would be a great substitute for the lemon if you prefer. I have not tried it yet but every time I make this pumpkin butter recipe I always thing- next time I will use orange.
If you don’t feel like zesting a lemon or orange, just add another 1 tablespoon of juice to your pumpkin butter.
And also note you want the color to be a rich dark orange/brown. Keep simmering away if it doesn’t look right after 30 minutes. Just make sure you are stirring occasionally so it doesn’t burn – that will ruin the flavor of the entire batch.
This recipe makes enough to fill the two jars you see above plus a few scoops we sneaked during the photo taking process :D.
And if you like this recipe, you might also like:
Super easy homemade pumpkin pie spice
Oh my…looks delicious! I’m going to make this for my son to take back to college next week. He will love this! Thank you.
Be sure to come back and let me know what you think Dodi 🙂
How many cups is 29 oz pumpkin puree? I often buy a couple pumpkins right after Halloween at a discount and make my own puree. And have you tried other sweeteners, like maple syrup or honey? How “forgiving” is the recipe for measurements? Looks yummy.
Cathy you can use maple syrup as a sweetener- especially if you want this to use in oatmeal or something. I found white sugar to have the best flavor but you can certainly modify with whatever you like. 🙂