Spread the Love! Pumpkin Butter is Easy in Clay!

Image Courtesy of Serious Eats

Since I was young, I’ve never been a fan of jellies or jams. Never cared much for jam on my toast or jelly on my peanut butter. I do like peanut butter on a banana or an apple, and as for sandwiches, honey goes with peanut butter so well! My other favorite peanut-butter or toast pairing is apple butter. It’s not too sweet and it’s got interesting flavors and a smooth texture that is really hard to beat.

Like most people, I love pumpkin everything in the fall. I frequently have a pumpkin in my cart at the first sighting in the store. I cook up a batch of pumpkin puree and add it to everything from pancakes to soup to spaghetti sauce!

When I learned pumpkin butter was a thing, I was excited: what could be better than apple butter? Surely pumpkin butter would be amazing. And it is! My next quest was to make it myself with the help of my trusty VitaClay. It’s super easy, and I love that I can control the ingredients and make it less sweet than store-bought. Now I spread this stuff on everything. It’s so easy--give it a try!

Ingredients for Pumpkin Butter in Clay:

• 3 c pumpkin puree
• ¾ c apple juice
• 2 t ground ginger
• ½ t clove spice powder
• 2 t ground cinnamon
• 1 t ground nutmeg
• 1 ½ c coconut sugar

Directions for Pumpkin Butter in Clay:

1. Add all ingredients to the clay pot and stir well
2. Close, seal and set to “soup” for 20 minutes.
3. Stir. Allow to sit on “warm” for at least 10 more minutes
4. The longer it sits on “warm” the better—the flavors meld really well if it sits for an hour or two.
5. Stir every half hour or so.
6. Add to jars and refrigerate.
7. Makes a great gift, or a comforting holiday treat on top of bagels with cream cheese or instead of jelly on a nut butter sandwich.

Combine pumpkin, apple juice, spices, and sugar in a large saucepan; stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened. Stir frequently.