Updated from the archives.

No trip to the mall is complete without a 20-minute detour into the shiny, overpriced gourmet kitchen store. We like to slowly creep along the aisles, ooohing over fancy salts, aaahing over delicious oils and gourmet chocolates, and shaking our head disapprovingly at $100 pairing knives.

Six (!) years ago, we bought our first few jars of Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter at that shiny store and used it for holiday baking. If you’ve never had it, you’re missing out. It. Is. Terrific. It’s good in pumpkin bread, cinnamon rolls (stay tuned!) as pumpkin pie filling, and on brie. Oh my goodness, the brie (slather it on a wheel of baked brie, add walnuts or pecans, wrap it in puff pastry and devour).

And I’m not the only fan! But at $12 for less than 2 cups, it’s a wee bit cost-prohibitive to load up on it for a marathon baking session or to just stand there and eat it with a spoon (a serving suggestion that I highly recommend).

The ingredients which make up the store-bought pumpkin butter couldn’t be easier to obtain: pumpkin, pecans, sugar, lemon juice, and spices.

5 years ago, I whipped up my first batch of homemade pecan pumpkin butter based (mostly) on those ingredients and took a pretty unattractive picture (photographing brown food sucks) and posted it to the internet. Because every year around this time it becomes one of the top recipes on the blog, I decided that bowl of brown stuff needed a new photo. So here’s a new picture. Of a jar of brown stuff

Pecan Pumpkin Butter

A homemade version of the gourmet kitchen store favorite, fragrant and flavorful pecan pumpkin butter.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
• Zest of 1/2 orange
• 3 Tbsp orange juice
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 15 oz can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon*
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg*
• 1/4 tsp allspice*
• 1/8 tsp cloves*
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger*
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Can replace with 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Spread pecans on a baking sheet and roast for 7 minutes, until browned and fragrant.
3. Run the pecans through the food processor until finely ground - they'll start to take on a pasty consistency (pecan butter!).
4. In a 2-qt sauce pan over medium heat, combine the citrus zests and juices and dark brown sugar. Stir until warmed. Add pumpkin, nuts, and spices and reduce heat to low, simmering for 20
5. Turn heat down to low, simmering for 20-30 minutes, until thickened and the color darkens.
6. Stir and taste for seasoning and sweetness occasionally, adding additional spices as necessary.
7. The pumpkin butter will keep 2-3 weeks in the fridge.

Notes

Yields: ~2 cups

Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride

Estimated time: 40 minutes