Slow cooking pumpkin butter takes a few hours.
When the fall comes around, pumpkins start popping up and people start eating them just as quickly. There are pumpkin pies of course, but another option is pumpkin butter. This is usually served on toast, but it can be mixed up for a variety of uses as well. To make pumpkin butter, one method is to slow cook it. This intensifies the spices in the mix, and makes a creamy butter great for any number of uses. Plus, it only takes about three hours to make.
Instructions
1. Open up the top to the slow cooker. Measure the honey, pumpkin puree, cider vinegar and pumpkin-pie spice using the measuring spoons and cups, and pour each ingredient into the slow cooker, one at a time.
2. Cut the lemon in half with a knife. Put one-half of the lemon in the citrus squeezer and hold it over the slow cooker. Close the citrus squeezer to extract all of the lemon juice from the half lemon and let the juice go into the slow cooker. Repeat with the remaining half of the lemon.
3. Measure 1 1/4 cups of brown sugar with the measuring cups, making sure to pack the brown sugar tightly in the cup with your hands. Pour the brown sugar into the slow cooker.
4. Stir all of the ingredients in the slow cooker using a spatula. Put on the lid, set the cooker to "High" and set the timer for two hours. Check the slow cooker every 10 to 15 minutes, and stir the pumpkin-butter mix with the spatula to get an even heat on all of the ingredients.
5. Take off the lid from the slow cooker. Set the heat setting to "High," and set the timer for 30 minutes. Check for consistency at the end of 30 minutes, and if necessary, cook for another 30 minutes, or until the pumpkin butter reaches a consistency that you're happy with.
6. Turn off the slow cooker. Allow the pumpkin butter to sit at room temperature to cool. Pour the pumpkin butter into glass jars using the spatula. Put the lids on the jars and store the pumpkin butter in the refrigerator, where it will stay fresh for six weeks. Serve the pumpkin butter cold from the fridge or at room temperature.
Tags: slow cooker, pumpkin butter, brown sugar, into slow, into slow cooker, citrus squeezer, half lemon
