Veganmofo 2010: An Ode to Apple-Pumpkin Butter

Happy toast. I was going for a "Care-Bear STARE" moment with this (why yes, I AM a child of the 80's!) 

So, I am officially obsessed with apple-pumpkin butter. It's like pumpkin pie on a spoon. And in my belly.  Those cute pumpkins that Nik and I carved last weekend? Yeah, I totally stored them in the fridge and then slaughtered them this week to make some delicious apple-pumpkin butter. I couldn't let them go to waste (and hey, they were $3.00 each!)  

I vaguely followed Susan's recipe, at Fat-free Vegan, but omitting the raisins (blech!! Not a fan!), and used chunks of apples instead of applesauce (and more of them).  And I used two sugar pumpkins, so mine took F O R E V E R to cook. Like four hours! It was a really delicious smelling four hours though. 

Poor kitty cat and big-eyed pumpkins steamed 

Guts scraped out.

DON'T do what I did, and keep it in big chunks cooking. You will have a big burn mark on the bottom of your pan. Puree ASAP!

Much better. Now let this simmer for many hours.

Try not to eat it all in one sitting. (there was a whole other big jar filled, but that mysteriously disappeared.)

So I have been putting this on toast, in my morning oatmeal (um YUM), and my favorite use:

Pumpkin-Chocolate Hot Cocoa!

makes 1 serving

1 Cup Almond Milk (or soy, rice, oat, hemp, etc.)

2TBS unsweetened cocoa powder

2TBS sugar

3TBS apple-pumpkin butter 

Blend all ingredients in blender until combined (or super-whisk if you don't have a blender).

Heat on low in a saucepan, stirring constantly, until desired non-tongue-burning temperature has been reached. Enjoy!

Oh god. It's DELICIOUS.