This one’s for all you pumpkin lovers out there. Full on pumpkin everything when fall hits kind of lovers. I’m definitely part of that tribe, having already slammed my face into baked donuts, pancakes, quick bread, and this magical business.
For those of you not familiar with this spread it’s pretty much pumpkin pie filling that you can eat for breakfast without people judging you aka fall’s answer to summer preserves. I tried a couple different recipes with crazy ingredients, but the one I ended up working with was straight up the simplest. No need to get too crazy.
The thing I love about this stuff is that it takes just a few ingredients that you probably already have in your cupboard and elevates them to an impressive level in just 20 minutes + cooling time. You can seriously put this stuff on whatever you want: peanut butter sandwiches, your face, your dog’s face, cream cheese, ice cream, yogurt, or S’MORES.
Pumpkin happens to go very well with chocolate so I figured let’s sandwich that between a graham cracker and a marshmallow and make dreams come true. This was also my first trip to the land of oven s’mores and now I’m hooked like whoa. LOOK AT THAT TOASTY ACTION. The chocolate got melted, the marshmallow’s all gooey. Just, just go and make this right now.
Pumpkin Butter
Makes about 4 cups (GIFT IT)
1 29oz can of pumpkin puree, or 3 1/2 cups of your from scratch business
1 1/2 c brown sugar, light or dark, pumpkin doesn’t judge
pinch of salt
juice of half a lemon, or a splash of apple cider vinegar
Combine everything except the lemon in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens up nicely and darkens in color, about 20 min, stirring frequently. Butter will thicken even more as it cools.
Turn off the heat, stir in the lemon juice, and cool before putting into the fridge. Keeps up to 3 weeks in fridge, do not attempt to can or preserve. Pumpkin is too dense to can and you’ll get sick the end.
OVEN S’MORES
Turn on your broiler, lay out graham cracker halves onto a baking sheet. Top with a little bit of pumpkin butter, then about 4-5 bittersweet chocolate chips. Broil for about 20ish seconds, until chocolate just starts to melt. Top each square with a large marshmallow and toast for 10-20 sec. Don’t shut the oven door and keep your eyes on the prize. This is no time for phone calls or haircuts. Top each one of the graham cracker halves with another half and serve to toasted gooey goodness.
