This seasonal recipe is worth repeating and sharing. I read a recipe last year for pumpkin butter. It was actually made with pureed roasted squash. The directions included roasting squash halves until tender, and scooping out the pulp as a base for the recipe. It occurred to me that canned pumpkin might make a perfect base. If you think about it, canned pumpkin is a simple puree. The ingredients list on the side of the can has one ingredient: “pumpkin.”

So, here is my adapted recipe for pumpkin butter:

2 (15 ounce) cans pumpkin puree
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 -2 TBS molasses
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 stick of butter

1. Mix first five ingredients together.
2. Pour into a baking dish. Dot with the butter cubes.
3. Bake in a 350 oven for about an hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
4. Let cool before putting into storage (or gift) containers. Refrigerate.

This pumpkin butter tastes like spreadable pumpkin pie filling. It’s great on toast or English muffins, or pound cake. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’ll bet some could be added to pancake batter to make pumpkin pancakes.

A simple dessert can be made by filling mini fillo shells with the pumpkin butter, and topping with a dab of whipped cream to create tiny pumpkin pies.

Put into small Ball jars and tied with ribbons, pumpkin butter would make a nice little gift. Just remember to tell people that it needs to be refrigerated.