Pumpkin Butter

It is that time of the year. Woolens are out, there is a nip in the air, summer is gone and the year is coming to an end. It's been a roller-coaster year for me on the personal front, our home is no longer filled with noise and demands but quietness. A certain warm fuzzy quietness because it tells me every day that our kids are charting their own paths . Until then, I fill this home with warmth and happiness.

It is an invigorating time, I love winters and I look forward every year with childlike glee, no matter how many winters I have seen. Every winter is new to me, I kind of get sentimental and all emotional. I miss my father a little bit more, I know , he is smiling down, I remember our visits to his ancestral home, in the winters. There would be a sense of well-being and celebration in the air, the harvest over, everyone relaxed and renewed. Maybe,I still carry that magic in my heart.

This year ending is even more special, our little daughter is coming for her first-semester break, I can't wait  to hear all her experience.

One of my favourite part about winter is the food! Flavours become more pronounced, juicy tomatoes, oranges and cabbages, carrots and broccoli. There is so much at offer. I love the warm,spicy taste in food to ward off the chill. Snuggle up with a hot soup, conversation over a bonfire, watch the sun rise over foggy mornings.

Meanwhile, as I wait for our children to come home, I'm bottling up early  winter veggies and fruits, pickling and preserving, bottling up winter aromas and essence that I can pack for them. 

Today I made some Pumpkin Butter, goondness packed with warm spicy flavours and the creaminess of butter and subtley sweet. Hope you will love this as much I did. Easy to make and packed with so much yummy goodness.

Ingredients:

400gm pumpkin puree

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 apple juice

2tbsp apple cider vinegar

1tbsp cinnamon powder

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Method:

To make the puree, I generally half fill a glass bowl with water and sit

 the chunk of pumpkin on it. With the skin on. Then microwave at high for 7/8 minutes.

Cool and peel of the skin, it comes off easily. Then mash up the pumpkin or if you want it really fine. Blitz with a hand blender.

Take a saucepan and put all the ingredients together and cook over flame , medium heat for about 20mins.
Cool and fill up jars and refrigerate until use. It's delicious on toasts and even as a sweet relish with chicken etc!

If you try this recipe, do let me know! Will wait to hear your views!