Pumpkin Butter Recipe

When I set out to make pumpkin butter for the first time, I had elaborate visions of pre-roasting the pumpkins to concentrate the flavor, adding unexpected spices, and waiting for hours for the slowly simmering brew to be ready. After getting results that tasted nothing like fall, or pumpkin pie, or even pumpkins, I stopped to reconsider my strategy. When it comes to something as rustic and seasonal as pumpkin butter, I thought, perhaps it's best to keep it simple.

I started again, this time sticking to these guidelines:

Following the wise adage "If it grows together, it goes together," I skipped the orange juice I had been using to keep the pumpkins moist as they roasted and opted for apple cider instead.

In many parts of the country, are you are likely to find sugar pumpkins (also called "cooking pumpkins" or "pie pumpkins"), apple cider, and maple syrup at about the same time. These make up three of the main ingredients in this recipe.

Stick with Classic Fall Flavors

Most of us love pumpkin butter for its familiar and homey flavors. Star anise, which I put in one of my early pumpkin butter attempts, is not exactly a pumpkin pie classic, so I got rid of it.

Instead, I used my favorite pumpkin pie spices in the amounts and proportions I like. My recipe for pumpkin butter is lightly spiced; I like the flavor of the pumpkin and some tanginess of the apple juice to predominate. If you want it spicier, increase the amount of ground spices or add whole cinnamon sticks, cloves, and slices of fresh ginger to the apple juice while the cubed pumpkin is cooking (just be sure to remove them before pureeing the pumpkin).

Standing Over the Cauldron

I put the roasting pan and food mill away when it dawned on me that pumpkin butter works great as a one-pot wonder. Not quite as fast as chanting "lizards and gizzards, pumpkin stew..." but the new process was quicker, neater, and yielded tastier results when I switched to the cauldron method.

I put peeled pumpkin cubes in a pot, barely covered them with apple cider, and cooked them until they were soft. The next step was to purée them, spice and sweeten up the pot, and let the whole thing simmer until the pumpkin butter was thick and spreadable.

I ended up with this recipe, which I like very much. Unlike my earlier orange zest- and star anise-spiked versions, this one actually tastes like the kind from a farm stand: sweet pumpkin flavor warmed up with some cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.

What About Canned Pumpkin?

I know the question is out there: can I use canned pumpkins instead? Peeling and cubing a fresh pumpkin is really not that much work, but there are times when canned pumpkin is the only practical option. So the answer is yes, instead of cooking the pumpkin pieces in apple cider, add the apple cider to the purée along with the spices. If you want a little more guidance, I wrote a shortcut recipe that uses canned purée.

Using Pumpkin Butter

Pumpkin butter on toast is always delicious, but there are many other ways to fill your fall days with this treat. Try it for breakfast stirred into plain yogurt or baked into granola. Or, blend it into a milkshake or maybe even marble it into your favorite coffee cake recipe.