Pumpkin Butter, rough draft

Adapted from Gina’s Skinny Recipes @ www.skinnytaste.com

2 15 oz cans pureed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
a couple inches of vanilla bean
¾ c apple cider
1 c packed brown sugar
2-3 cinnamon sticks (depending on size)
1-2 t pumpkin pie spice (to taste)

Stir all ingredients together in a pot with a lid. Simmer covered on low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, for a couple hours until it’s the texture you’d like. I used vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract because it tolerates long, slow heat much better. If you’d like to use vanilla extract I’d add it closer to the end.

USES: awesome on peanut butter toast. Plan to use it as an apple/fruit dip, swirl with cream cheese into brownies before baking, dollop on a cheesecake, spread between yellow cake layers then frost with burnt butter icing, stir into coffee with a little hot milk, spoon onto vanilla ice cream…..

NEXT TIME: I am going to double the recipe but not quite double the sugar, use 4-5 cinnamon sticks, slice open the vanilla bean and make sure the innards disperse and cook it overnight in the crockpot on LOW. Those cinnamon sticks and vanilla bean are too good to toss so I think I’ll rinse off the “butter” and freeze them for the next time I mull cider or anything else ;-)