Fresh Pumpkin Butter (made with homegrown Pumpkins)

This past weekend we had our annual Trails for Kids fundraising ride. We had to postpone it a little bit… because we all know there’s this Pandemic thing going on. Honestly, I think it was a good time. In April we’re always fighting rain. Now, if you think about September… you could fight fall rains, but you also have a little warmer temps… so who knows. It’s kind of hit and miss on both occasions. We actually discussed that during our follow-up board meeting.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves… first things first… a few weeks ago my I had to harvest my pumpkins early because of squash bugs. They were sitting in my wagon behind my house waiting for me to do something with them.

Jump forward a couple of weeks… I’ve now made some pumpkin purée, but I still have pumpkins running out of my tookus. That’s even with sitting a few up on the front porch for fall decór. And don’t read that wrong, I was extremely excited that I could grow pumpkins!! But my thought is, I don’t want them going to waste.

I was having conversations with my friend Jody on what we were each bringing to the bake sale at the Trails for Kids auction. She mentioned her dad was making biscuits for her to donate. She wasn’t sure if they’d be plain or cheesy/garlicky, but if they were plain, she was going to try and convince him to make Apple Butter. I mentioned since it was fall, she should also throw in some pumpkin butter. She laughed and said she a) didn’t have any, b) didn’t know how to make any, and c) didn’t have time to learn.

That’s when I volunteered to make Pumpkin butter… mainly because I really wanted a reason to make pumpkin butter :). Out of my Fresh pumpkins, I might add.

Fresh Pumpkin Butter made with homegrown Pumpkins

Adapted from here

First off, you’ll need your ingredients:

• 6 lbs (about 3 small-medium) pumpkins
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375˚F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Half the pumpkins and remove the seeds and “guts.” (set the seeds aside to make pepitos)
Brush insides with olive oil and season with salt, then lay pumpkins face down on parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake for 1 hour or until fork-tender.

Remove cooked pumpkin (pulp) into a blender, food processor, or a bowl to use with an immersion blender. Blend.

Pour the pulp into a medium saucepan. Add sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and salt.

Bring to a boil; then reduce heat to low and simmer about 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it becomes thick and all blends together.

And voila, you have Homemade Pumpkin Butter. Serve with homemade bread, biscuits, eat it just off a spoon, heck store-bought bread even works. It’s just that good!!! Enjoy! This is a picture of it spread on my grandma’s homemade sourdough bread. Oh my gosh yum! That is all.

p.s. I sold a jar of pumpkin butter with a loaf of bread like this and it brought $52.50. Not bragging or anything ;). Jody’s biscuits, pumpkin butter, and apple butter in a cute fall basket brought $80.

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