Crock Pot Pumpkin Butter

Posted by on Monday, October 24th, 2011

Pumpkin-Butter

I had never given much thought to Pumpkin Butter until recently.  To break the rainy month blues one Saturday evening, we loaded up the kids and drove to Cool Springs just to roam around for a while.  I had a few moments to myself, and the aroma pouring out of WILLIAMS SONOMA drew me inside the store. The clerk had just made a batch of pumpkin bread and was serving it up topped with some of their name brand pumpkin butter.  WOW, the taste was incredible and I knew I had to figure out how to make my own – mainly because I’m cheap.  

I was thrilled to find a recipe for Crock Pot Pumpkin Butter.  It seemed simple enough. I made up a batch this weekend along with some of Mom’s Pumpkin Bread.  I served both at Life Group tonight and sent each family home with a loaf of pumpkin bread and a jar of pumpkin butter. 

Here’s how to get started: 

I bought 2 pie pumpkins – about 6-7 inches in diameter.  Those suckers were pretty tough to cut through but I managed to cut them in half, scraped out the “pumpkin guts” and saved the seeds.  (NEVER THROW AWAY PUMPKIN SEEDS!  We need them for roasting later.)  I began removing the outer peeling with my vegetable/carrot/potato peeler.  Next the halves were sliced and cubed into 1”-2” pieces.  The 2 pie pumpkins yielded about 9-10 cups of cubed raw pumpkin.  Next, I tossed the cubes into a pot of steaming filtered water and let the pumpkin bubble and boil until the cubes were tender (about 15-20 minutes).  (I could have frozen the cooked chunks in zip lock bags to be used later to make puree, pies, butter, or bread.)  I drained the chunks and made puree by using a hand held blender.  A food processor would have worked nicely too. 

In a crock pot add:

  • 8 cups pumpkin puree
  • 4 cups sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • ½ teaspoon cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • Juice of 4 fresh lemons

Cook the mixture on low all day or all night, or until the mixture becomes thick and golden brown.  Put the pumpkin butter in sterilized pint or half pint jars and seal.  

Pumpkin butter CANNOT be stored on the shelf, even if the jars have been sealed in a water bath.  Pumpkin butter must be frozen in the jars, or refrigerated for up to 3 weeks.  But our jar disappeared quickly!  Serve over warm pumpkin bread, or toast, or biscuits. Yum!

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Crock Pot Pumpkin Butter

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Filed in Appetizers,Canning,Desserts,Thanksgiving | 17 responses so far

17 Responses to “Crock Pot Pumpkin Butter”

  1. Brenton 21 Oct 2009 at 8:06 pm 1

    Who takes the photos on your site? They are beautiful!

  2. Taraon 22 Oct 2009 at 5:26 am 2

    The photographer is usually dear hubby. Micah photographs when dad isn’t around. They both do a fantastic job don’t they?

  3. Ashleighon 18 Aug 2010 at 9:28 am 3

    Tara did you guys enjoy the pumpkin butter last year?

  4. Taraon 25 Aug 2010 at 8:20 pm 4

    Hi Ashleigh,
    Yes we enjoyed the pumpkin butter very much. I only have one jar left in the freezer. The only problem is that you must have pumpkin bread to go with it. It’s good for the soul, but not for my hips!

  5. Vivian McNeilon 01 Nov 2010 at 8:25 pm 5

    I scraped the raw pumpkin out of the shell to make a Jack-o-lantern. How do I cook the shreads in order to make the puree? Also, I’m not really clear on the canning. (can you tell that I am really new at this….LOL) Why do I need to seal the jar if I’m going to freeze it? Or do you mean it literally, like “put on the lid”, as opposed to sealing with a water bath.
    Thanks for your help!

  6. Taraon 02 Nov 2010 at 5:13 am 6

    High Vivan,
    Once you have either peeled the pumpking and cut the flesh into chunks, or scraped the flesh out of the pumpkin, you can boil the pumpkin flesh in a pot of water for about 15-20 mintues or until the flesh is tender. Then you can drain off the water and make puree with the cooked pumpkin buy tossing it into a blender or using one of those hand held blenders. A mixer might work too? And by “sealing” the pumpkin butter, I mean put the lid and ring on the jar. You may hear the hot jar seal itself as it cools, but it still must be frozen if it is not going to be consumed right away. Hope this helps. Good luck with your pumpkins!

  7. carolinaheartstringson 26 Oct 2011 at 4:16 pm 7

    This looks so amazing. I pinned it!

  8. Carolina HeartStringson 30 Oct 2011 at 6:06 am 8

    Hey Tara,

    Alessa, here. Was going to do a crock pot pumpk butter too in Nov but your’s looks like it “takes the cake”. How about you post it on our facebook page.

    Thanks and happy Sunday.

    A

  9. Elizabethon 27 Nov 2011 at 12:07 pm 9

    How much does this make?

  10. Taraon 27 Nov 2011 at 6:13 pm 10

    Hi Elizabeth. I was not able to make the pumpkin butter this fall but best I recall, I think I had 6-8 half pint jars of pumpkin butter last year. It went so fast!

  11. Virginia Carlsonon 22 Sep 2012 at 6:52 am 11

    I would like to know why pumpkin butter cannot be sealed and stored “on the shelf”. I want to give it as gifts and it needs to be sealed.
    Thanks.

  12. Taraon 23 Sep 2012 at 3:44 pm 12

    There may be another method of preserving pumpkin butter which would be safe (there has to be b/c I’ve bought it at places like Cracker Barrel) but I don’t think my pressure canner can heat the mixture enough to kill all the bacteria which could potentially cause food poisoning. I think that info was in the “Ball Blue Book of Canning” which I can’t seem to locate right now. Hope this helps.

  13. sherry fulleron 03 Oct 2012 at 5:00 pm 13

    Can you use canned pumpkin? Not much on doing the real pumpkin thing! LOL!

  14. Taraon 04 Oct 2012 at 2:49 pm 14

    Sherry I don’t see why one couldn’t use the canned pumpkin. It might cook a little faster though. I wouldn’t be afraid to try it!

  15. Anna Benderon 15 Nov 2012 at 7:46 pm 15

    I don’t even try to cut my pumpkins in half. I just put it in a couple of plastic grocery bags, tie them up tight and dash the bag repeatedly on the cement steps until I have bagged pumpkin chunks. I also cook with the skin on because it usually peels right off when the pumpkin’s cooked thoroughly.

  16. Linda Willison 10 Dec 2012 at 6:51 am 16

    I usually cut the pumpkin in half, scrape out the seeds, rinse and place on a baking sheet with the cut side down. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, turn pumpkin with cut side up, return to oven for 45 min to 1 hour (till really tender). It will come off the skin and is ready to freeze, make pies, etc. I found this to be easier than peeling before cooking.

  17. Donna Powerson 26 Dec 2012 at 10:39 am 17

    Your recipe is the best I’ve found so far. Here it is the day after Christmas and I just used the last of my jack o’the lantern pumpkins to make more pumpkin butter. We live in a cold climate so the uncut pumpkin will stay fresh for a couple months in it’s own protective shell. You just need to protect it from a hard freeze. The pumpkin is not as dense as a pie pumpkin but you cook it down until it is thick anyway. You can get a lot from a large jack o’ lantern pumpkin.