One of the things I missed when I first arrived here in the UK was tinned pumpkin. It was very difficult to find and if you did find it, it cost you an arm and a leg. I used to be able to get it at Waitrose down south and Sainsbury's. Recently I scored big time when our local Aldi had it in as a special deal. I bought about 20 cans! Todd thought they would think I was crazy buying so many, but I didn't care. If there is one thing I have learned in my years over here, it's to take advantage of a chance when you get it, because you might never get another one! Kind of like making hay while the sun shines!
Of course you can always make your own. I have done so in the past. It's a bit labor intensive and it's not that easy to get a mixture that is as dry as the stuff in the tin, but it can be done. I usually let mine drain in a sieve overnight, which works pretty well. You can find a great tutorial on how to make your own here. It's not really that hard. The hard bit over here is finding the pumpkin!
So anyways, I decided to use some of my precious hoard of tinned pumpkin to make the Toddster some delicious Pumpkin Butter as an early Autumn treat the other day. He loved it when I made him apple butter one year, so I thought he would really enjoy some pumpkin butter. I also thought that in some part it would help to justify my having bought 20 tins!
Pumpkin Butter is like a thick pumpkin jam . . . nicely spiced with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom . . . very nice it is. Very nice. And not that hard to make either if you have a tin of pumpkin to hand.
It's as simple as stirring some pumpkin, honey, brown sugar, and the spices together in a pot along with some lemon juice and then cooking it down until it's nice and thick and jammy . . . it doesn't take too long either, only about half an hour.
We enjoyed some while it was still warm, spread on our toasted crumpets the other day. Oh boy, was it ever good. I am going to use it to fill a Victorian Sponge or a spice cake one day as well. That sounds like it would be really lovely. What do you think???
I do hope you will give it a go. I think you would really like it. I think if I was to spread it onto a few digestive biscuits, it would almost be like having a pumpkin pie . . . I'm going to try that tonight as a snack while we are watching Downton Abby. I wonder if the Dowager would approve?
Well . . . . maybe not. I don't think I'll ask.
*Easy Pumpkin Butter*
Makes 2 cups Printable Recipe
This is so easy to make and tastes so good spread onto biscuits, or crackers, toast, between cake layers, etc. Just be sure to use the tinned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling.1 (15 ounce) tin of pureed pumpkin135g of soft light brown sugar (2/3 cup)60ml liquid honey (1/4 cup)1 TBS fresh lemon juice1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground nutmeg
pinch ground cloves
pinch ground cardamompinch salt
Combine the pumpkin, sugar, honey, lemon juice and spices in a medium, heavy based saucepan. (I use my le creuset pan) Bring this mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, and then reduce the heat to low. Cook, stirring frequently, for 20 to 25 minutes or until nicely thickened. Serve with baking powder biscuits, scones, breads, muffins etc. It's also lovely spread between two plain sponge cake layers. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.
