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I have never tried making pumpkin butter before, but wanted to try. I love the internet – you can find anything and everything. I was surprised to find that you can not can pumpkin butter the same way that you would apple butter. I found this on the University of Georgia’s National Center for Home Food Preservation website http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/tips/fall/pumpkins.html: Home canning is not recommended for pumpkin butter or any mashed or pureed pumpkin or winter squash. In 1989, the USDA’s Extension Service published the Complete Guide to Home Canning , which remains the basis of Extension recommendations today, found in the September 1994 revision. The only directions for canning pumpkin and winter squash are for cubed pulp. In fact, the directions for preparing the product include the statement, “Caution: Do not mash or puree.”
Pumpkin Butter Recipe
Ingredients
4- 5 medium sized sugar pumpkins
2 Tbl cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
4 -6 cups sugar
Equipment
Crock pot
Canning jars (1/2 pint size and/or pint size)
Canner
Jar grabber
Small sauce pan
Funnel
Spoon/ladle
1. Cook and puree 4 – 5 pumpkins (see blog posting from October 5, 2011 – Yummy Orange Goop) – I used 4 pumpkins
2. Put the puree from 2 1/2 pumpkins into the crock pot.
3. Add the spices and 3 – 4 cups of sugar (I used 3 cups) – stir well.
4. Place a towel under the crock pot to catch the splatters. Turn on low or medium and cook for 6 – 8 hours or overnight. Do not seal completely.
NOTE: I left mine on low overnight and it did burn and I lost about a pint of butter – it was almost impossible to clean the crock pot. If it does burn take out the non-burned butter, place in another bowl clean out the crock pot and then put the butter back in and continue cooking. I would recommend doing this during the day, so you can stir and watch. I have never had anything burn in my crock pot – this was a first.
5. Once it has cooked down to about 1/2 of what you originally put in, put the puree from the other 1 1/2 pumpkins (this filled 
mine to really full). Add another 1 – 2 cups of sugar (I added 1 more cup), stir well to mix it all together. Allow to cook on low for another couple of hours – so the flavors mix throughout.
6. Wash your canning jars and place the canning jars in the your water bath canner. Bring the water to a boil and turn off – this is to sterilize the bottle, but if you have a dishwasher you can do the washing and sterilizing in one run through.
7. When the butter has cooked, place the jar lids into a small saucepan, cover and allow the water to boil – turn off and leave the lids in there.
8. Place your jars on a dishtowel on your counter, using a ladle and funnel fill the jars to 1/4 of top. My butter was so thick that I had to spoon it in! If yours becomes to thick you 
can add some apple juice and blend in – I did not have any apple juice on hand, wish I did. Wipe the tops of the jars, place the lids on the jars and rings, tighten.
9. Cool the jars and then place in the fridge. You can not store in your cabinet.
Stella tried some of the pumpkin butter on oatmeal pancakes and loved! It is good, but I am not sure I would make it again – mainly because of storing in the fridge – not sure how fast we will go through it.
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