Grandma’s Old Fashioned Pumpkin Butter
Spread it on your breakfast toast.
Spoon it into tart shells.
Use as a cheesecake or ice cream topping.
Makes a festive dip for corn chips or pretzels.
Uses only one ingredient (yes, one ingredient) and the slow cooker.
Makes 5 cups
3 (29 oz) cans pumpkin pie filling (not plain pumpkin)
Put filling into slow cooker and set on low. Don’t cover.
Cook (stirring every hour or so scraping down sides and bottom) until reduced in volume by half – about 6 hours. Don’t worry if you get browned bits in the mixture.
When pumpkin butter is done, turn off cooker and scrape pot one last time.
Let mixture cool in cooker 2 hours (uncovered) then puree with blender or food processor till smooth and any bits of brown are gone.
Serve cold or gently warmed in the microwave. Keeps a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.
Cook’s tips:
The size of the slow cooker used to test this recipe was 10 inches round X 5 inches deep. Adjust amount of pumpkin and/or cooking time as necessary for other size cookers.
Don’t add anything else – not even water.
Covering the cooker will make the pumpkin butter scorch.
The pumpkin butter is done when it’s caramelized (darkened).
Stir more often near the end of the cooking time. A heat proof plastic scraper works well.
When using a hand held blender to puree, transfer cooked pumpkin butter to a bowl or other container to prevent damage to the slow cooker.