This probably should be called pumpkin spread since it has no butter, but the world calls it pumpkin butter and who am I to argue? I love this fat-free treat, whether on toast or pancakes, on vanilla ice cream or my favorite way, as a dip for apples, giving me two tastes of autumn in one bite. I have no argument with whoever devised a way to make this in mere minutes instead of an hour and a half or so.
Two advantages to making it at home are economy and nutrition. I scribbled the ingredients of a jar of Dickinson’s Country Pumpkin Butter at the store. There aren’t many and three of them are sugars: pumpkin, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, salt, citric acid, ginger, natural flavors. The label says one tablespoon has 11g of sugars (!) and the price for 9 ounces was over $4.
We can do better, saving money while enjoying pumpkin’s healthfulness — it’s loaded with Vitamin A with 80% of it Beta Carotene — without drowning it in sugar. And instead of a long stovetop simmer, we’ll do it in the microwave, making a batch in about five minutes with only a bowl and spoon.
This makes just under a cup, enough for generous dipping with guests or for other uses for several days. This will keep in the fridge for about a week — and it must be refrigerated unless you wish to grow a science project in record time — but it can be frozen too, for up to two months. If you don’t have an immediate use for the remaining pumpkin puree in the can, you could double the recipe and freeze half or just freeze the extra pumpkin as is.
As always, microwaves vary and the times are a guideline. Mine is small and old, so you might need a few seconds less. A sure sign you’ve gone too long is discovering black, burnt sugar on the bottom of the bowl after the first nuking.
Fast Pumpkin Butter
2 TB light brown sugar, packed
1 TB granulated sugar
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ginger
2 TB water
3/4 cup, packed/180g pumpkin puree (slightly less than half of a 15-ounce can)
In a microwave-safe bowl, combine all ingredients except the pumpkin and mix well. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 2 minutes or until the sugars are melted. Stir, add pumpkin, beat lightly and microwave, loosely covered, for another 3 minutes. It will be very hot!
Serve warm or at room temperature. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to a week or freeze for up to two months.
Yield: about 3/4 of a cup
Ella’s note: The description of the pumpkin butter on Dickinson’s website says it has “hints of cinnamon and sugar.” I don’t consider 11g of sugar per tablespoon to be a “hint” but there is just a hint of cinnamon. It’s not listed among the ingredients, so I assume it’s part of the unspecified natural flavors. Hint indeed.
Copyright (C) 2008 From Scratch All Rights Reserved 
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Ella,
I love pumpkin in all its forms – bread, pie, cream-cheese roll, Carribean-style pork and pumpkin stew. I’ve always loved pumpkin butter in the fall, too, but thanks to your gentle encouragement I peeked at the jar I have in the pantry. Yep – I’ve got sugars upon sugars there, too.
It’s time to try another Ella-approved recipe. Today’s bread is on the list, too.
Linda
shoreacres’s last blog post..The Allure of Failure
Hi, Shore – I’m with you. I’m a total pumpkin slut! When I was a kid I waited for October for Baskin-Robbins’ pumpkin pie ice cream. I haven’t seen one of those stores in years but I’ve never forgotten that ice cream.
Now that I know you make pies, you might enjoy this one – it’s killer:
Is It Apple Pie or Pumpkin?
LMK how the recipes work out for you!
Your recipe looks delicious. Remember that “sugar” listed on nutritional info includes naturally occuring sugars as well as added sugars. Since pumpkin is naturally somewhat sweet the 11 g is not all added sugar. (However, it could be mostly added).
Hello, Meera. You’re absolutely right about natural sugars and I assumed, knowing 1 TB is 28g and by looking at the ingredient list, that most is added. I should never assume, but you piqued my curiosity and I checked. According to wiki’s nutritional list for raw pumpkin, 100g (3.5 ounces) has 1.36g of sugar so it’s really added. Thanks for the prompt!
And thanks for the comment and kind words. I could inhale this stuff.
Glad you checked on the natural sugar info for pumpkin. Definitely much better to make your own pumpkin butter! I’m making the pumpkin bundt cake from your site (again) just now with fresh pumpkin puree.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying that cake. I love it but haven’t made it yet this season. Soon.
I saw pumpkin butter recently that’s sweetened with honey – $7.50 for a small jar. Um, no thanks!
This is so beyond scrumptious.
Will be a lifelong staple: easy, delicious, and nutritious. Absolute perfection.
I cooked on the stove, as we discussed via e-mail. And I did something a bit different; I have an organic, dark raw honey from Hawaii that I got on sale a bit ago, marked down 75 percent. Very heavily crystallized, and I used it instead of the sugar.
Good grief, is this stuff good. It is rainy outside, leaves cover the ground, and the apartment smells like autumn should, warm and fragrant.
A winner. Thanks so much for sharing. I have been wanting a sweet pumpkin treat for this season, without milks and butters and such. This is perfect.
Love it.
Word Bandit’s last blog post..ATF Disrupts Skinhead Plot To Assassinate Obama
I’m so glad to hear it, Word, thank you. I mentioned above seeing pumpkin butter with honey for a ridiculous amount of $$ so I’m happy to know you tried honey with fine results. I assume you substituted measure for measure?
Thanks for letting me know. I might have to make some tonight for snacking during the special broadcast. I have apples coming out of my ears!
ella,
The only thing better than your pumpkin butter is a double batch of your pumpkin butter – unless it might be pumpkin butter and apples while watching good political theatre!
It is a wonderful recipe – I was out of cinnamon tonight, so I doubled the allspice and nutmeg and it was just as good.
I tried some of my first batch on warm cornbread, and liked that. And, in a frenzy of creativity, a friend added chopped pecans, chopped unpeeled apple, plumped golden and dark raisins and a drop of bourbon for an excellent filling for roast acorn squash. Who knew?
I’ve tucked tonight’s batch far, far into the depths of the fridge to keep temptation away!
shoreacres’s last blog post..The Haves, and the Have-Nots
Uhhhhh, ohhhhhhh. I’ve been outed!
Well, I fess up. I wasn’t gonna tell you, but I did add some extra honey and ginger . . .
Sweet tooth and all.
I am thinking that this stuff warm over vanilla bean ice cream or even, oh, I love this one, or a ginger ice cream, would be just a smidgen away from heaven.
Word Bandit’s last blog post..Vote For The Maverick!
And don’t forget – there are companies gearing up to produce cinnamon ice cream even as we speak! Cinnamon ice cream with warm pumpkin butter…. ummmmm……
shoreacres’s last blog post..The Haves, and the Have-Nots
word Haha! No, I wasn’t trying to out your sweet tooth, I was wondering about texture and taste! It is divine with vanilla ice cream, btw, and ginger sounds really good. I love ginger. Maybe vanilla ice cream, crumbled gingerbread cookies and pumpkin butter?
shore – Oh, great. Cinnamon ice cream. You sent me checking for a recipe I thought I have — and I do — for apple cinnamon ice cream. However, at quick glance it seems to use 2 saucepans, 3 bowls and a food processor which is more than a quart of ice cream is worth in my world. Maybe I have another. I’ve never seen it at the market but I really don’t look. I don’t buy it very often.
I’m sooo glad you’re enjoying it, shore. Thank you so much for letting me know. Cornbread’s a super idea and I’m going to try that for sure. (Have you seen my mom’s recipe here?) Your friend sounds wonderfully creative. That concoction makes perfect sense to me, especially the drop of bourbon. So many pumpkin pies use a bit of bourbon and it’s a much better addition than rum, in my opinion. Maybe s/he would share the recipe?
Thanks again, both of you!
Not to beat a dead horse, but this stuff is sooooo good.
I am making my second batch already.
You know, it is better after being in the fridge for a day; the spices seem to meld together seamlessly with the day, and it is just so much richer and smoother after that 24, utterly wonderful.
I remember the Times had that “perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie” recipe awhile back (if you don’t, I will send it on to you); and the secret to the perfect CCC is to let the dough chill over night. Something changes it. Same with this stuff. The spices just marry together in a magical way, to my taste buds.
My version doesn’t look as “chunky” as yours, but it extremely rich and thick, like a dense pudding.
Anyway, I finished the second half of the batch straight from the bowl when I came home from the gym, and I am hoping I can maybe make some of this second batch last until tomorrow.
If you get a chance to get a nice dark honey on sale, try it with the honey. A little extra won’t hurt, trust me. Don’t measure, just use your intuition.
Thanks again. As I wrote before, this will be a lifelong go-to, no question.
Just like your hummus recipe is an always go to, this one will be a forever friend!
Word Bandit’s last blog post..Vote For The Maverick!
Since I mentioned it, I’ll post it here for anyone reading these entries:
Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies; adapted from Jacques Torres
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/091crex.html?pagewanted=all
Related Article: Quest for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
Includes the following excerpt:
“To put the technique to the test, one batch of the cookie dough was allowed to rest in the refrigerator….At 12 hours, the dough had become drier and the baked cookies had a pleasant, if not slightly pale, complexion. The 24-hour mark …The cookies browned more evenly..At 36 hours, the dough was significantly drier than the 12-hour batch…and were a deeper shade of brown..they had an even richer, more sophisticated taste.”
nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html?pagewanted=all
These two articles have some the highest numbers that I’ve ever seen for “Saved Articles” in the NYT archives.
Word Bandit’s last blog post..Vote For The Maverick!
Hi, Word – I’m so happy to hear some of my little efforts hit the spot. The savings and nutrition can’t be denied.
I think mine is chunkier for two reasons – yours breaks down more while simmering on the stovetop and when I add the pumpkin, I don’t really beat it till it’s smooth. I like it a bit more rustic.
That cookie recipe and article have been in my NYT saved file since publication. I never get around to trying it. I think hydration is the key, especially when sugar is involved. In pastry school we made 2 pate sucrees at the end of a day. One was moist enough to use almost immediately, the other was deliberately short on water, crumbling and not at all holding together. We wrapped them up, the latter being squished like a log however we could manage the pieces, and refrigerated them overnight. In the morning, the crumbly one was perfect because of the hyrdration which would occur anyway, but with even a bit of sugar, which is hygroscopic, it was more pronounced. The egg played a role too.
More food science than you care to know, I’m sure.
Thanks so much and have a wonderful, pumpkiny weekend!
So happy to have found this site!
I have my 18 quart roaster simmering the pumpkin pulp from 4 pumpkins bought at the bargin rate of 50 cents each. Is there any safe way to can pumpkin? The USDA does not recommend canning pumpkin, but what about canning pumpkin butter? If Dickinson’s can co it, can we?
Hi, Barbara. I’m happy you found me too! Let me say at the outset I am not a canner, but I do know you are correct about the USDA’s recommendation. The concern is that the density is such that it would not be heated all the way to the center.
That said, I found a couple references to people who do can pumpkin butter but always, always store it in the refrigerator. To be honest, since it freezes so well, I’d just fill several freezer bags and store them that way, taking up very little space and having no worries about safety.
Commercial food processors are able to reach temperatures, higher and lower, than we can at home and in a blink of an eye. I’m not certain, but I’d bet my favorite chef’s knife that Dickinson’s is using pasteurization, either for the puree, the finished product or both.
BTW, I think you have a great use for your 18-quart roaster. I seldom use mine but when I do, I’m just as likely to bake in it as anything else. The muffin tin I use for corn muffins fits fine and they bake up perfectly.
Thanks for your question!
Thank you for your response.
I will have to consider buying a freezer. I found Dickinson’s on line recipe for pumpkin butter bread absolutely delicious, and intend to bake loaves of it as Christmas presents for my friends and coworkers.
The roaster is great for making butters, tomato gravy, etc., in large quantities, and can be put on low and left to simmer overnight without fear of sticking or burning.
You’re very welcome, Barbara. I think interactivity is the main point of a blog.
I love giving baked goods as holiday gifts and a few years ago I gave quick breads in oven-safe heavy paper loaf pans. They’re awfully attractive and so practical. I got them at King Arthur and I checked the website for you and they’re still available:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/detail.jsp?id=5229
As for a freezer, it’s one of the first things I bought when I moved from a Manhattan apartment to a house. It paid for itself in no time. I honestly can’t remember the last time I paid full price for meat.
Don’t be a stranger!
I checked out the King Arthur site and simply think those oven-safe paper loaf pans are a marvel! Never knew of their existence.
Will order some for my daughter who loves to bake white fruitcake for her friends (all of whom swear to HATE the stuff until they taste her version) and for me, too. 20% sale going on if one buys $75.00 or more-which appears to be an easy task with their variety of offerings.
Pumpkin butter neatly tucked into my refrigerator freezer-a very tight squeeze, however.
Look at it this way, Barbara – it won’t be a tight squeeze for long because it’s so good and you’ll eat some!
Oh, it’s dead easy to spend $75 at KA, partly because their prices are sky high, especially for equipment. They do have a fabulous range of ingredients, though.
I had white fruitcake once and it was wonderful. I didn’t ask for the recipe, knowing I’d never make it. If your daughter would like to provide a photo or two and the recipe after the makes it, I’d be happy to write about it. You can use the Contact tab at the top of the blog to email me. I can’t put the address here or the spam bots will get it.
I know she will be happy to share the recipe!
Thanks for asking. I will see about obtaining a photo or two to upload for you.
Great, thanks!
Cack’s White Fruitcake Recipe
(Fruitcake for folks who swear they hate the stuff)
1 pound shelled pecans
1 pound golden raisins
1-1/2 pounds candied pineapple-8 oz.red, 8 oz.green, 8 oz. yellow
1 pound candied cherries-8 oz, red and 8 oz. green
1 pound BUTTER-NO SUBSTITUTES
6 EGGS, separated
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
2 ounces lemon extract
Cut cherries in half and pineapple in little pieces.
Cream together butter, egg yolks, and sugar. Add flour and mix well. Add lemon extract and mix thoroughly. Add fruit and pecans; mix.
Beat egg whites into soft peaks. Fold into batter.
Grease pan (tube or loaf) and line bottom with waxed paper. spoon in the batter. Bake 1-1/2 hours at 250*F, the increase heat to 325*F and bake 30 more minutes or until done(toothpick inserted in center comes out clean)
Cool in pan.
Turn out and remove the waxed paper.
Wrap the fruitcake in cheesecloth that has been saturated with apple juice, then in plastic wrap and finally, aluminum foil.Store in cool place
Ages well and will keep for a full year.
Thank you so very much, Barbara. It looks wonderful. I do have a couple questions, though and I’ll take them email later today.
Thanks again, and special thanks to Cack!
Hi, Ella,
Just home from work and found this in the comment section on my other blog. I enjoyed it, and thought you would, too.
“A while back you posted a link to a food blog with a recipe for pumpkin butter and mentioned pumpkin chocolate chip muffins from that blog, as well. I wanted to take something to TDay dinner, even though it wasn’t required, and thought those would be perfect (anything with pumpkin, this time of year, is perfect!). The ‘butter’ is naturally vegan, of course, and the muffin recipe was easily converted – both were big hits! So much so that I have none at home, now
I’ll just have to make more.
Thank you for posting that find!”
So even the Vegans love your recipes!
Linda
shoreacres’s last blog post..Team Muse
Hi, Linda. Aren’t you a sweetie for passing that along! Thank you so much. I’m always thrilled when somebody likes one of my little offerings, especially when they’ve gone to the trouble to do a little conversion switcheroo.
I’ve never gone Vegan but I was a vegetarian for a few years and I still eat enough meatless meals that I have a meatless category. I have a trio of new vegetarian entrees on my “try soon” list and have my fingers crossed that at least one of them will be worth posting.
Thank you again. You’re so thoughtful!