I made pumpkin butter from scratch – step aside Martha Stewart

We bought the big kids pumpkins at the Pumpkin Station but decided Baby C didn’t need one.  Carving pumpkins is not really something either of us enjoy.  I know, that isn’t very festive of us – but it is kind of just something we do for the kids.

  So, since Baby C isn’t asking for one yet – that is just an easy call for us.  No pumpkin until you ask for one.

Well, then we got a pumpkin at a fall festival for free and thought for a second we might carve it for her.  (yeah right)

So there we were the week after Halloween with a pumpkin still on our counter.  So I went to google to see what I could do with it.

I was excited to find several recipe sites that claimed I could make pumpkin butter with just pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, and a slow cooker – I wasn’t sure – but what the hey – I may as well try.  I did not make up this recipe – but I thought it was awesomely easy and I am so bummed I have thrown pumpkins out in the past!

First we cut up the pumpkin and dumped it in the crock pot, added in three cups of sugar (the recipe actually called for 4 cups, but I made the executive decision that we didn’t need that much), my sous chef also shook the cinnamon shaker to her hearts content (I have NO idea how much we put in, I think you can add as much as you want)……

6 hours on low in the slow cooker & this is what we scooped out – probably mushy enough on it’s own, but I decided to the the Magic Bullet have it’s way with it.

Mmmmmmmm.  I am not sure if this picture does it justice – but it is SO yummy!  We also roasted the seeds (but that isn’t nearly as exciting).  When Mr. Deals and Steals came home I proudly held up my creation and said “Look! This morning this was a useless pumpkin and now it is fancy food!”  He was not quite as enthusiastic as I was…..but I may have been overly excited.

We put it on toast, in oatmeal, in and on homemade pancakes.  Pumpkin is a ‘super food’ so I don’t really mind that there was some sugar in this recipe – the kids are eating veggies in their breakfast so I think it is a pretty awesome trade off.

Enjoy ~ Kate