Pumpkins are usually associated with a trick-or-treating and Halloween parties where everybody competes against each other for the best scary-looking orange face. But pumpkins are cute, let’s treat them accordingly – with due love and respect. They deserve to be eaten, not only to be carved and discarded.
Today we’re gonna transform them into something you’ve never even thought it was possible to transform pumpkins into – butter. A true celebration of the starting of fall – smooth, creamy, moderately spicy and 100% delicious. Get a good-looking pumpkin with no blemishes and soft spots and be ready to show some real class in the kitchen. Wash it and peel with a vegetable peeler, cut in half and scoop all the seeds with messy pulp out. Reserve them for later use. Later when you are free and your oven is accidentally turned on, toss the seeds with some melted butter, season them with salt and bake for 35-45 minutes in a 150˚C / 300˚F oven until golden and enticing.
As for the main dish, proceed with the pumpkin by chopping it into cubes and put them into an appropriate baking dish or a casserole, covered about halfway with 1 ½ cups of apple cider vinegar (apples and pumpkins are old friends!). You won’t believe it but you are almost there. All you need to do from that point is to bring the mixture to a simmer and wait until every pumpkin piece is tender. Then puree everything with a hand blender and add spices: ⅓ cup brown sugar, ⅓ cup maple syrup, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp grated ginger, a pinch of ground cloves and nutmeg. Stir, let it simmer over low heat until it spreads like butter. Basically, this is it. Your own gorgeous autumn butter ready to be incorporated into daily meals. Imagine warm sweet’n’sour velvety pumpkin spread on a piece of toast or in a morning porridge with some blueberries and hazelnuts.
But peeling tough skins and cubing sturdy flesh isn’t always a good idea even for a divine preparation like this. Of course, you can spare some time and use canned pumpkins instead. The rest is even simpler: in the pot it goes with apple cider and spices and sits there until smooth and butter-y. No fuss. All you have to do is to seal it tight and get into the fridge once it’s cool to ensure its freshness. But we bet it won’t last too long – once you try it.
What do you think?