Crockpot - Easy Pumpkin Butter, low calorie

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Lourdesong
Lourdesong Posts: 1,492 Member
I bought a small pumpkin the other day for the seeds to roast, and decided to use the flesh to make pumpkin butter since I'm such a big fan of apple butter.

Many recipes for pumpkin butter use canned purred pumpkin (why?) or require you to cook your pumpkin flesh first and puree it, then throw in a crockpot, which is really not necessary.

What is necessary is to scrape the inside of your pumpkin to remove the pulp and seeds, peel your pumpkin (a potato peeler worked fine for me) and cut up the flesh into 1" or so cubes.

Here are the ingredients, adjust sugar and spices for the amount of pumpkin flesh your pumpkin yields and/or to taste:

1 lb of raw pumpkin, cubed
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1.5 tsps cinnamon
0.5 tsp ginger
0.25 tsp nutmeg
0.5 tsp salt
0.5 TBS vanilla extract to finish

Mix spices, sugar and salt together. Throw raw pumpkin in crockpot, sprinkle spice mixture all over, toss to coat or not (doesn't matter), set to low and cook 8-12 hours.

Add vanilla and whisk it in, a simple whisk also should be enough to blend the mixture smooth right in the crockpot. If your pumpkin butter is a little dry (mine was), whisking in just a splash of cranberry juice to get the right consistency works beautifully flavor-wise.

I yielded about 500g of pumpkin butter. A 28g serving (a generous amount to spread on a slice of bread) worked out to 20 calories. :)


Replies

  • friendlymush
    friendlymush Posts: 26 Member
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    Ooh this sounds delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
  • TinyTexn59
    TinyTexn59 Posts: 96 Member
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    I love pumpkin butter but it is so expensive. Thanks for this.
  • Lourdesong
    Lourdesong Posts: 1,492 Member
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    crazyravr wrote: »
    Lourdesong wrote: »
    I bought a small pumpkin the other day for the seeds to roast, and decided to use the flesh to make pumpkin butter since I'm such a big fan of apple butter.

    Many recipes for pumpkin butter use canned purred pumpkin (why?) or require you to cook your pumpkin flesh first and puree it, then throw in a crockpot, which is really not necessary.

    What is necessary is to scrape the inside of your pumpkin to remove the pulp and seeds, peel your pumpkin (a potato peeler worked fine for me) and cut up the flesh into 1" or so cubes.

    Here are the ingredients, adjust sugar and spices for the amount of pumpkin flesh your pumpkin yields and/or to taste:

    1 lb of raw pumpkin, cubed
    1/4 cup packed brown sugar
    1.5 tsps cinnamon
    0.5 tsp ginger
    0.25 tsp nutmeg
    0.5 tsp salt
    0.5 TBS vanilla extract to finish

    Mix spices, sugar and salt together. Throw raw pumpkin in crockpot, sprinkle spice mixture all over, toss to coat or not (doesn't matter), set to low and cook 8-12 hours.

    Add vanilla and whisk it in, a simple whisk also should be enough to blend the mixture smooth right in the crockpot. If your pumpkin butter is a little dry (mine was), whisking in just a splash of cranberry juice to get the right consistency works beautifully flavor-wise.

    I yielded about 500g of pumpkin butter. A 28g serving (a generous amount to spread on a slice of bread) worked out to 20 calories. :)


    So you used 1 POUND of pumpkin but got MORE than 1 POUND of pumpkin pure??? Magic?? Also how long will this keep in the fridge?

    The weight I yielded (485g to be exact) of pumpkin butter (not puree) could be accomplished quite easily without magic, especially given that 1 lb of pumpkin wasn't the only item with weight thrown in the crockpot. The weight I yielded seems about exactly what one should expect to yield if followed to a T. :) But the pumpkin butter is pretty magical, if I do say so myself, haha.

    I really have no idea how long it keeps. I understand that it is unsafe to can pumpkin butter and any squash puree, but that it keeps well in the fridge or freezer. I'd probably personally toss it in a month if there's any still around, if not sooner, since that's about the max I'd keep any homemade food in the fridge. But it may keep longer than that in the fridge, I dunno. *shrug* Sorry. :)



  • MsJulesRenee
    MsJulesRenee Posts: 1,180 Member
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    *bow* I love apple butter and I will be eventually trying this.
  • KellieTru
    KellieTru Posts: 285 Member
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    Wow! This sounds crazy-delicious! I love making my own pumpkin purée for pies...in fact I just froze some last w/e and the purée from sugar pumpkins is far superior to canned...naturally sweet and delicious. Thanks for posting this recipe--I'm going to try it sometime this fall!