Maple Pumpkin Butter for Applefest & Spirit of Shrewsbury

 This year, as in year's past, Culinary Underground took our show on the road and set up booth at a couple of local fall festivals. Northborough's Applefest was two weeks ago and tomorrow is the Spirit of Shrewsbury's Oak Street Expo. We offer free samples of some of the recipes our students learn to make in our classes, talk to folks about home cookin', and generally schmooze and enjoy the day. We'll be at Southborough's Heritage Day in a couple of weeks, too.

People often ask us for the recipes for things we prepare for these events. We usually bring along some of our homemade ricotta cheese because we (a) love to teach people to make homemade cheeses and (b) we just love cheese! I stay true to my Pennsylvania Dutch roots by eating ricotta or cottage cheese with apple butter and love to spread the gospel of this pairing. This year, we're offering our Dessert Bruschetta: toasted croutons with pumpkin pie spices, topped with lightly-sweetened homemade ricotta and maple-pumpkin butter. 

Pumpkin butter is easier to prepare than apple butter (which involves peeling, coring, slicing, dicing, spicing, simmering, and stirring...for hours). Pumpkin butter uses canned pumpkin; you can buy a sugar pumpkin and do the whole peel/cook/puree thing, but most chefs agree: there's no difference between the homemade version and canned. So make life easy for yourself.

Maple Pumpkin Butter
(about 2-1/2 Cups)

One 29-ounce can pumpkin puree
1-1/2 Cups dark brown sugar
½ Cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan over LOW heat. Partially cover and simmer until thick, about 35-45 minutes. Stir frequently to avoid scorching. Cool and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.