Pumpkin Butter

Tired of pumpkin yet?  If you still have a whole pie pumpkin sitting around from Halloween, maybe now's the time to roast it up and make something to spread on Thanksgiving leftovers.

The spark for this one came during my vacation last month.  Writer Smurf took me to a farm stand on the border of Amish country, so there were a lot of items you don't find in town.  I learned that the Amish prefer crookneck squash for pumpkin pies.  Hard to find those in Southern California.  There were also jars of various preserves and butters, including pumpkin butter.  A quick trip online found plenty of easy recipes.  I'm basing this on Skinnytaste's.  It's very simple and the hard part is remembering you left it on the stove for an hour to do its thing.

This has to be one of the healthiest jams you can make.  Lots of vitamins and almost no fat.  Techie Smurf was surprised that there's no actual butter in pumpkin butter.  I had to explain that the name refers to the consistency, not the ingredients.  He's a foodie, but there are gaps.

If you go on the original recipe's site, be careful with the comments.  Most of the people who talk about putting it in jars are just talking about storage.  Some do refer to freezing it.  DO NOT try to boil-bath can like one commenter mentions.  This is not a canning recipe, even if you use previously canned pumpkin.

*2 C Roasted pumpkin purée, either fresh or canned
*1/2 C apple juice
*1 Tb apple cider vinegar
1/3 C brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
*1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
*1 cinnamon stick

1.  Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan and stir to combine.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Careful, it spits lava.

2.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until reduced to desired consistency.  You want something like a spreadable jam or cream cheese.  Fish out the cinnamon stick.  Allow to cool until it stops steaming, then place in containers and refrigerate or freeze.

Makes about 2 cups, depending on thickness

Difficulty rating  π