Slow Cooker Pumpkin-Apple Butter

One of the things I love about fall is the warmth and yummy goodness of pumpkin butter and apple butter. My mornings are not complete unless I get a little swipe of one of these delectable butters on my toast or English muffin.

When we went apple picking earlier this month out in Winchester (Marker-Miller Orchards are wonderful), I tasked my mother with grabbing a large jar of pumpkin butter for me. She did and I've been a happy gal.

So when I saw a recipe for pumpkin-apple butter for the crock pot on Pinterest a few weeks ago, I knew I had to try it. There are a lot of recipes around. Mine is a hodge-podge of what I found and therefore wholly my own.

Note the cups of applesauce - I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old. While it may be more economical to buy the larger jars of applesauce, we have found that our kids are more likely to actually eat the applesauce if they have their own special cup. It took 4 for this recipe.

Slow Cooker Pumpkin-Apple Butter
Makes about 3 pints

1 29oz can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 cups applesauce (no sugar added)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp each ground ginger and nutmeg
1/4 heaping tsp cloves
1 tsp vanilla paste (or vanilla extract)

Mix all of your ingredients in a crock pot well with a whisk. If you have a small crock pot, use it instead of the larger pot - crock pots work better the more full they are.

Cover and set your cooker to HIGH for 1 hour. Then reduce to LOW and allow to cook for an additional 5-6 hours, stirring every 90 minutes or so.

Let the butter cool for a while before spooning into your jars. I had 8oz canning jars on hand and ended up with 4 of those along with a larger 16 oz old spaghetti sauce jar.

Also, one really important note - apparently you cannot actually can, in the traditional sense, pumpkin butters safely. It has something to do with the acid content in the meat of the pumpkin. So you'll want to store your butter in the frig - it should last 3-4 weeks. I'm going to try freezing a couple of the jars. I'll try to remember to report back on how it tastes after being frozen.

Edited to Add: I had a jar of the orchard butter that I had been eating on my daily breakfast toast, but I thought I should actually taste my own before posting the recipe. I mean, I had tasted it before I put it into the jars, but it was alone. This stuff tastes just like pumpkin pie! I'm so excited. It tastes far better than any other pumpkin or apple butter I have ever eaten. I will no longer be buying either - this is too easy to make and it is absolutely delicious.